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PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT IN THE 
pe VALLEY, OF \CLEONAE 


ZYGOURIES 


Meee iSTORIG SETTLEMENT IN THE 
VALLEY OF CLEONAE 


BY. 


GARTL Wr, BLEGEN, PuD. 


PUBLISHED FOR 


THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS 


Be Rv Deu INIVERSULYoSPRESS 
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 
1928 


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COPYRIGHT, 1928 g i Ze iz 
BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF _ 


CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS 


{ ‘ 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES 0 


TO" 
THE MEMORY OF 


RICHARD BERRY SEAGER 


PREFACE 


sk excavations at Zygouries, the results of which form the subject of the present 


monograph, were conducted by the American School of Classical Studies in two 
campaigns, in the spring of 1921 and in the late summer of 1922. 

Grateful acknowledgments are due to the late Richard B. Seager (who at one time hoped 

himself to participate in the digging), to Dr. and Mrs. Edward Robinson, of New York, 


of 
m 
Page 21: ‘8. House L (Nos. 2, 4, 5 on the plan, Plate II; Fig. 18)” eo 
should read “8. House L (Nos. 2, 4, 5 on the plan, Fig. 18; Trench I, ee 
Plate I)” ‘ 
ge 
Page 24: “‘9. House Y (Plate I; Fig. 21)” should read “9. House Y 
(Trench XI, Plate I; Fig. 21)” m 
Page 25: “10. House U... (Nos. 2 and 3 on the plan, Plate I; Fig. oF 
22) should read ‘“‘(Nos. 2 and 3 on the plan, Fig. 22; Trench XI, nd 
Plate I)” to 
nd 
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lso 
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investigation of the southern quarter of the settlement. It is a great pleasure to thank these 
two gentlemen for their help, and for the willingness and conscientiousness with which they 
carried out the tasks that fell to them. 

Dr. L. B. Holland, Architect of the School, arrived on May 11, and there could be no 
better testimony to his patience and painstaking accuracy than his plans, which accompany 
this report. His contributions in discussions of architectural problems and in the interpreta- 
tion of puzzling remains cannot be overstated. 

Others who rendered assistance for shorter periods were Dr. C. A. Boethius, of Upsala, 
who superintended, and indeed undertook with his own hands, the removal of most of the 
cooking pots from the ‘‘Potter’s Shop,” and Miss Wildes, Miss Lamb, and Miss Herford, 
who all helped extract the cylixes from the same building. 

The campaign of 1922 began on August 22 and continued until September 27. During 
the greater part of this period Mr. W. A. Heurtley, Assistant Director of the British School, 


vil 


Vill PREFACE 


was present and gave extremely valuable aid in every way; measured drawings of all the 
tombs were made by him, and he also provided the additions to the general plan necessi- 
tated by further digging on the hill itself. 

George Alexopoulos, of Mycenae, acted as foreman during both campaigns, and his 
capable, efficient service contributed in no small degree to make operations run smoothly 
and with dispatch. 

In the preparation of the manuscript for publication I owe much to the generous assist- 
ance of Mrs. Blegen and of Miss Anne Blegen. It is a pleasure likewise to acknowledge my 
great indebtedness to Professors P. V. C. Baur, G. H. Chase, and H. N. Fowler, of the 
School’s Publication Committee, who have given highly valued advice and help. Professor 
Chase, in particular, has offered unsparingly of his time and thought in contributing to 
solve the problems which have arisen. I am also glad to have an opportunity to record my 
obligation to Professor James M. Paton for his kind offices in connection with the printing of 
the colored plates in Paris; and to the readers and the staff of the Harvard University Press 
tor their painstaking care and codperation, to which the appearance of the volume is due. 

If the Director of the School has been left until the last in this list of those to whom 
cordial thanks are due, it is only because Mr. Hill’s support and counsel have been con- 
stantly asked from the inception of the project for the excavation until the completion of 
this report and have been unfailingly and generously given, together with encouragement 
and stimulation to the very end. 

In the campaign of 1921 the whole hill was investigated by means of numerous trial 
trenches, a considerable section of an Early Helladic settlement was laid bare in the central 
area, and one house of the same period was uncovered in both the north and the south 
quarters of the mound. On the steep eastern slope part of a large Mycenaean building, 
the “Potter’s Shop,” was cleared, and exploration extended down inte the flat ground 
below the hill and up the bed of the stream to the southward. 

The campaign of 1922 was devoted chiefly to the quest for and the subsequent explora- 
tion of the cemetery, which was finally discovered occupying a long, sloping hillside half 
a mile west of the settlement itself. At the same time supplementary digging at Zygouries 
clarified not a few problems, yielded the complete plan of an additional Early Helladic 
house, and permitted the complete excavation of the ‘‘Potter’s Shop.” 

The work of these two seasons at Zygouries, though conducted on a small scale, yielded 
much new material for the study of the prehistoric age in Southern Greece. In the field of 
architecture the most considerable remains of Early Helladic houses yet known were re- 
covered, giving definite evidence for the plans of dwellings then in use. In the cemetery 
three Early Helladic tombs of a type not hitherto represented were discovered, throwing 
new light on the burial customs of the Early Bronze Age. Pottery was found in abundance, 
and the gratifyingly high number of whole or almost complete vases from this small site 
forms a noteworthy and useful series. Among the objects of gold, bronze, terracotta, bone, 
and stone are not a few of unique interest. 

All the movable finds were transported to Old Corinth and have been deposited in the 
Corinth museum. The Greek government has generously presented to the Metropolitan 
Museum a selection of duplicate vases from the excavations. 


PREFACE 1X 


The results of the excavations will be discussed in the following chapters, after a brief 
description of the site itself, under the headings Architecture, Tombs, Pottery, and Miscel- 
laneous Objects. A preliminary account of the results obtained was written after each cam- 
paign and published in Art and Archaeology, vol. XIII, 1922, pp. 209-216, and vol. XV, 
1923, pp. 85-89. Needless to say, these two brief articles, and any other notices that may 
have appeared, are superseded by the present report. | 

Of the illustrations accompanying this volume, the detailed drawings reproduced in 
Plates I and II were made by Dr. L. B. Holland; the plans of the separate houses and of 
the tombs, presented in Figures 5, 7, 9, 14, 17, 18, 21-23, 25, 38, 41, 43-46, 48, 51, 58, 62-64, 
were prepared by Miss D. H. Cox, from the drawings of Dr. Holland and Mr. Heurtley. 
The water-colors and the sketches for Plates III-X XII and for Figures 12, 69, 71, 81, 87-89, 
Be 940,1 100, 10g, 113-131, 135-139, 160, 171, 172, 181, 182, 184-187, 189-191, 194- 
198, are the work of Mr. Piet de Jong. The water-color from which Figure 134 is taken was 
made by Mr. William V. Cash. The sketches for Figures 176, 180, 199 were provided by 
Mr. E. Gilliéron; that for Figure 178 by Mr. J. H. Breiel. The photographs for Figures 34 
and 35 I owe to Dr. J. P. Harland; that for Figure 3 to Dr. J. D. Young; that for Figure 183 
to Dr. B. D. Meritt. The illustrations of the pottery and of the miscellaneous objects are 
mainly from photographs taken by A. Petritsis, of the staff of the National Museum in 
Athens, whose services were kindly placed at my disposal through the courtesy of Dr. 
Kastriotis, Director of the Museum. The reproductions in color, Plates III—X XII, were 
made by Daniel Jacomet & Cie., of Paris. 

Cari W. BLecEN 


ATHENS, March 5, 1926 


¥ 


Ea 


NEOUS OBJECTS 


CONTENTS 


. . . . . . . + 
. . . . . . . . 
. . . . . . . . 


. 


E 


eS AQ Ag ILLUSTRATIONS 


PLATES 


I. General Plan of the Excavations. 
II. Detailed Plan of Walls, Central Area of the Site. 
III. Fragments of Painted Plaster from the Potter’s Shop. 


IV. E.H. Ware, Class A I, without Slip, Decorated with Incised Patterns. 
V. E. H. Ware, Class A II, Slippéd and Polished. 
VI. E.H. Ware, Class A II, Slipped and Polished, with Incised Decoration. 
VII. E. H. Ware, Class A II, No. 564 (above); Class B II, No. 577 (below). 
VIII. E.H. Ware, Class B II, Earliest Type of Glaze Technique. 
IX. E.H. Ware, Class A II, Sauceboat (No. 317) and Fragments of Yellow Mottled Ware. 
Dee tae Ware, Class BIJ, Nos. 261, 260, and 238. 
XI. E. H. Patterned Ware, Classes C I and C II. 
XII. E.H. Patterned Ware, No. 114, Class C I (a); No. 205, Class C I (4). 
lead | 


. Patterned Ware, Two Tankards, 1 (No. 113), Class C I (4); 2, Class C I (a). 
XIV. Three Pots from Tomb XXII, M. H. Period, Nos. 305, 306, 304. 
XV. Goblet, No. 276, and Fragments, Ephyraean Ware. 
XVI. Two Cylixes from the Potter’s Shop, Nos. 70 and 45. 
XVII. Cylix, No. 48, from the Potter’s Shop. 
XVIII. Cylix, No. 63, from the Potter’s Shop. 
XIX. 1. Jar with Three Handles, No. 50, from the Potter’s Shop. 
2. Jug, No. 350, from Tomb XXXIII. 
XX. Miscellaneous Objects, chiefly from Tombs, E. H. Period. 
XXI. Miscellaneous Objects, E. H. Period. 
XXII. Stone Implements, E. H. Period. 


FIGURES 


General View of the Site from the North . 

General View of the Site from the West 

Early Helladic Street from the South . 

Narrow Lane from the East 

Plan of House D . 

House D from the Satin 

Plan of House A . 

House A from the South 

Plan of the “House of the Pithoi”’ sik adjoining Wanites ; 
Vestibule and Square Chamber, House of the Pithoi, from the West 


Xill 


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XIV 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


. Square Chamber, House of the Pithoi, from the North, showing ne as Wall in Row 


of Pithoi 
Fragments of Clay Berea fan Reon tee fi the Pitho! 


. General View of Central Area of Excavations from the Southwest 
. Plan of Houses W and S 

. House S from the Southeast 

. Room 39, House S, from the South 


Plan of House E 


; Plan of House: LE. 

. House L from the East 

. House L from the North, showing Rares ze Pichou in Roane 4 

. Plan of Blouses res, 

~ Plan‘of House Ce es 

. House U from the Northeast 

. Walls in Trench V, from the East . 

Plan of the Potters Shop = ew eee 

. Threshold Slabs in ‘‘ Corridor” of the Potter’s Shop . 

. Room 13, Potter’s Shop, from the South . 

. Cooking Pots as they first appeared in Room 13 . 

. Southwest Corner of Room 12, showing Five Craters, for the Nowe 
. Southwest Corner of Room 12, showing Doorway to Room 13, and Three Craters <i) in 


the Position in which they were found 


. Room 30, Potter’s Shop, from the East 
. Room 33, Potter’s Shop, from the West, showing wes Rees of Cranes Ee the Sout 


Wall 


. Room 33, Potter’s Shop: fn the East 

. Tomb I from the West 

evi ever yeys 
. Trial Trenches on as lope op ‘Arvest Hill, eee me South 
. Skeleton in Upper Layer of Tomb VII 

(Plan of Fomboviteo 2 on 

. North End of Tomb VII, from ae Soar 

. Tomb XVI from above . 

. Plan of Tomb XVI 


Tomb XX from the East 


. Plan of Tomb XX, a, Upper fear b, eee: eel ; 
. Plan of Tomb XXIII 

. Section through Tomb XXII, inc ‘Southe es 

. Plan of Tomb XXII, Middle and Lowest Layers 

. Bones in Lowest Layer of Tomb XXII, from above . 
. Plan of Tomb 2 Xt Ie. 

. Dromos of Tomb XXXIII 

. Door of Tomb XXXIII . 

. Plan of Tomb XXXV. 

. Dromos of Tomb XXXV 

. Door of Tomb XXXV 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
Bones and Vases uncovered in Chamber, Tomb XXXV 


. Slab covering Tomb IX . 

. Slab Covering Tomb X 

. Tomb XV from the Northeast 

. Plan of Tombs XV and XVa 

. Tomb XVIII from the East 

. Tomb VIII from the East 

. Tomb XII from the Northeast 

. Plan of Tomb XIII 

. Plan of Tomb XIV 

Paelan ot tomb XVII. 

. Typical Grave Pits under Ledges af Rock 

. Yellow Mottled Ware, E. H. Period, Class A II, Noe seid 397 

. Yellow Mottled Ware, E. H. Period, Class A II, Nos. 298, 286 

. Shallow Bowls, E. H. Ware, Class B I, Nos. 203, 58, 43 

. Shallow Bowl, E. H. Ware, Class BI, No. 55 

. Large Jug, E. H. Ware, Class BI, No. 258 

. Small Jug, E. H. Ware, Class BI, No. 42 

. Two Jugs, E. H. Ware, Class BI, Nos. 191, 93 

eeesarce jar, t. Hi. Ware, Class BI, No. 54.. 

. Large Jar, E. H. Ware, Class BI, No. 605 

. Three Shallow Bowls, E. H. Ware, Class B II, Nos. oo 399, anne 

. Three Small Pots, E. H. Ware, Class B II, Nos. 387, 270, to1 . 

. Lid, No. 570, Class A II, and Pyxis, No. 261, Class B II, E. H. Ware 
. sauceboat, FE. H. Ware, Class B II, No. 226 . 

. Two Sauceboats, E. H. Ware, Class B II, Nos. 115, 28 

. Two Sauceboats, E. H. Ware, Class B II, Nos. 24, 320 

. Fragments of a Sauceboat with Incised Decoration, E. H. Ware, ae B TL, No. S600. 
. Large Askos, E. H. Ware, Class B II, No. 35 het 6 his Ora 

; Askos, EK. H. Ware, Class B II, No. 295 : 

. Two Dippers, E. H. Ware, Class B II, Nos. 399, He. 


Deep Basin, E. H. Ware, Class B II, No. 606 


. Flattened Spherical Vessel, E. H. Ware, Class B II, No. 33 

. Bowl with Spout, E. H. Ware, Class B II, No. 276 . 

. E.H. Patterned Ware, Class C I sci Oy aa eae hte ares SEG bee ea: 
. Small Pot with Spout and Basket Handle, FE. H. Patterned Ware, Class CI, No. 8. 
. Three Shallow Bowls, E. H. Unpainted Ware, Group D, Nos. 107, 234, 269 

. E. H. Unpainted Ware, Seal Impression, and me Bases nies 

. Potter’s Marks on E. H. Ware . Meee 

. Small Dishes or Paterae, E. H. Gneanced Ware 

. Ladle, E. H. Unpainted Ware, No. 211 

. Three E. H. Pots from Tomb VII, Nos. 363, ay at 


Three E. H. Pots from Tomb XX, Nos. 301, 302, 303 


. Two Jars, E. H. Unpainted Ware, Nos. 111, 20 . 
. Deep Oval Jar, E. H. Unpainted Ware, No. 400 . 
. Large Loop Handles, E. H. Unpainted Ware . 


XVI 


100. 
IOI, 
102. 
103. 
104. 
105. 
106. 
TOF 
108. 
10g. 
IIO. 
III. 
IT2, 
113: 
114. 
1G Rat 
116. 
Line 
118. 
119. 
120. 
ror: 
27, 
123. 
124. 
125) 
126. 
£27, 


128. 
129. 
P50; 
193. 
Gee 
133. 
134. 
6 
136. 
137, 
138. 
139. 
140. 
T4l. 
142, 
143. 
144. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


E. H. Handles and Spout suggesting metal prototypes . 
Deep Basin, E. H. Unpainted Ware, No. 36 . 


Shallow Bowl and Cup of Coarse Fabric, E. H. Period, Nee S321 


Two Askoid Cups of Coarse Fabric, E. H. Period, Nos. 394, 109 
Cup and Jar, Coarse Ware, E. H. Period, Nos. 206, 39 

Cooking Pot and Beef Bone, E. H. Period, No. 287 . 

Broad Jar, Coarse Ware, E. H. Period, No. 572 . 

Huge Jar, Coarse Ware, E. H. Period, No. 573 : 

Two Cylindrical Stands, Coarse Ware, E. H. Period, Now aoe. ane 
Mat Impressions, Coarse Ware, E. H. Period 

Lower Part of Two Pithoi in Side of Stream-bed 

E. H. Pithos, No. 575 

EOF. Pithos,No.g76.~. 

Fragment of Rim of Pithos, E. H. Period: No: iis) 

Fragments of Rims of Large Vessels, E. H. Period ; 
Jug with Spout and Basket Handle, E. H. Period, No. 277 

Cup on Stem, with Incised Decoration, E. H. Period, No. 250 
Fragmentary Goblet or Chalice, E. H. Period, No. 112. 

Yellow Minyan Goblet, No. 106 

Stem of Yellow Minyan Goblet, No. 307, Gon Tore XXII 
Coarse Yellow Minyan Ware, Stems of Goblets . 

Sherds of Mattpainted Ware, Class I 

Jug, Mattpainted Ware, Class I, No. 580 . 


Cup with Side Handle, Mattpainted Ware, Class I, Ne 94, foie Tomb ia 


Small Jug, Mattpainted Ware, Class I, No. 95, from Tomb I . 
Jug with Cutaway Neck, Mattpainted Ware, Class I, No. 96 . 
Typical Sherds, Mattpainted Ware, Class II . 


Typical Sherds, Mattpainted Ware, Class III (Nos. 1- 8); and Mainland Ware Gone 


sponding to Fabrics of M. M. III (Nos. g-11) 
Typical Sherds, L. H. 1 . 
Typical Sherds, L. H. II 
Typical Sherds, Early L. H. III 
Typical Sherds, L. H. III 
Two Large Stirrup Vases, Nos. 311, 371, L. H. I 
Plain Cup with High Handle, No. 312, L. H. III 
Large Basin or Bath, No. 581, L. H. III 
Two Goblets, L. H. III, Nos. 47, 62, from the Potter’s Shep 
Varieties of Murex Design on Goblets, from the Potter’s Shop 
Degeneration of Octopus Design on Goblets, from the Potter’s Shop . 
Stand for Cooking Pot, No. 523, from the Potter’s Shop 
Stirrup Vase, No. 370, from the Potter’s Shop 
Huge Stirrup Vase, No. 378, from the Potter’s Shop ; 
Two Plain Goblets, Nos. 452, 453, Type a, from the Potter’s Shop 
Two Plain Goblets, Nos. 84, 463, Type 4, from the Potter’s Shop . 


Three Plain Goblets, Nos. 185, 91, 214, Type c, from the Potter’s Shop . 
Two Cups or Scoops with High Handles, Nos. 87, 88, from the Potter’s Shop 


145. 
146. 
sy. 
148. 
149. 
150. 


EST 


Era. 
ee 
Ted. 
Poe. 
156. 
rey. 
158. 
159. 
160. 
161: 
162. 
163. 
164. 
165. 
166. 
167. 
168. 
169. 
170. 
raf; 
Gk 
ier 
174. 
ers: 
176. 
177; 
178. 
179. 
180. 
181. 
oe 
183. 
184. 
185. 
186. 
187. 
188. 
189. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Two Small Cups and a Scoop, Nos. 403, 450, 187, from the Potter’s Shop 
Four Small Saucers or Lids, Nos. 440, 162, 173, 437, from the Potter’s Shop 
Three Small Jars, Nos. 130, 133, 223, from the Potter’s Shop . 

Bell-shaped Jar, No. 386, from the Potter’s Shop 

Two Large Jugs, Nos. 488, 485, from the Potter’s Shop 


Two Basins of the Type with Two Handles, Nos. 522, 123, from tHe Potter’ S kshans 
Three Large Basins of the iene with Four Handles, Nos. 518, 509, we from the Potter’s 


Shop 
Two Cooking pote: ae me Bg aan the Potter’ S Shap 
Small Jar, No. 225, from the Potter’s Shop 
Two Lids, Nos. 586, 585, from the Potter’s Shop 
Two Scoops or Ladles, Nos. 186, 413, from the Potter’s Shop 
Two Braziers, Nos. 410, 407, from the Potter’s Shop. 
Huge Crater, No. 530, from the Potter’s Shop 
Large Amphora, No. 375, from the Potter’s Shop 
Huge Cylindrical Jar, No. 583, from the Potter’s Shop . 
Baking Pan, No. 310, from the Potter’s Shop 
Two Stirrup Vases, Nos. 357, 356, from Tomb XXXIID 
Spouted Jug and Stirrup Vase, Nos. 351, 362, from Tomb XXXIII 
Two Jugs, Nos. 353, 354, from Tomb XXXIII 
Two Jugs, Nos. 361, 352, from Tomb XXXIII 
Two Large Jugs, Nos. 355, 348, from Tomb XXXIII 
Two Jugs, Nos. 349, 350, from Tomb XX XITI 
Three Small Pots, Nos. 331, 347, 406, from Tomb XXXV 
Three Diminutive Pots, Nos. 332, 330, 329, from Tomb XXXV 
“Table,” Stem of Goblet, and Askos, Nos. 334, 333, 328, from Tomb XXXKV 
Two Jars, Nos. 326, 327, from Tomb XXXV 
Jug from Tomb XVIII, Geometric Period, No. 308 . 
Deep Bowl from Tomb XVIII, Geometric Period, No. 309 . ; 
Three Roman Pots from Doorway of Tomb XXXV, Nos. 366, 365, ae 
Three Roman Pots from Shaft Graves, Nos. 322, 568, 368 . 
Three Roman Pots from Tile-Graves, Nos. 323, 567, 364 
Small Silver Disk, probably the end of some implement, from Tomb vt 
Seven Figurines (?) of Terracotta, KE. H. Period . 
Symbols on Seal of Terracotta, enlarged ' 
Spools and Weights of Terracotta, K. H. Period . 
Pommel of Bone from Handle of Dagger or Sceptre, E. H. ey 
Miscellaneous Objects of Bone, E. H. Period . 
Pieces of Horn, from Antlers of Red Deer, E. H. Pored 
Fragment of a Marble Figurine of Cycladic Type 
Fragment of Stone Palette, E. H. Period . 
Fragments of Two Stone Vessels, E. H. Period 
Five Small Pestles of Polychrome Marble, from Yiriza . 
Cutting or Sawing Implements of Flint or Chert, E. H. Period 
Stone Pounders and Grinders, E. H. Period 
Miscellaneous Objects from Tomb I, M. H. Period . 


Xvi 


154 
a4 
156 
156 
156 
158 


158 
159 
1$9 
160 
160 
160 
162 
163 
164 
165 
168 
168 
168 
169 
170 
170 
72 
172 
172 
173 
175 
175 
177 
177 
Toh 
181 
187 
189 
Igo 
IgI 
192 
193 
194 
196 
196 
196 
198 
200 
202 


XVIll 
190. 
IgI. 
espe 
193. 
194. 
195. 
196. 
IO: 
198. 


199. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Bronze Knife, Bronze Sickle and Obadin Arrowhead, L. H. perisde: oa 
Bronze Javelin Point, L.H. Period . ee atl. os a hea 
Figurines of Terracotta from Tomb XXXIII, ifs H. i 
Figurines of Terracotta from Tomb XXXV, L. H. IIT 
Figurines of Terracotta from the Settlement, L. H. ie eS Rae Ste ee 
Figurine of Terracotta, Female Figure with Child at Breast, NES tT 
Small “Table” of Terracotta from Tomb XXXV, L. H. III | 
Miscellaneous Objects of Steatite, from Tomb XXXIII at 
Miscellaneous Objects from Tomb XXXV (1-3) and gear of a Seal fi 
TepAd nee | 
Bronze Ring, Geometric Pasion igen Tomb XV I. 


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ie 7 N.GOU RTE Gam 
PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT IN THE 
_ ‘VALLEY OF CLEONAE 


CHAPTER! 


Cie SUCE 


IDWAY between Corinth and Mycenae, shut in by a mountain range on either 
side, lies the pleasant upland valley of Cleonae. A high, rounded elevation, 
rising steeply at its western end, bears the ruins of the acropolis of the Cleo- 
naeans, the excavation of which was undertaken in 1912 by the German Archaeological 
Institute. Some distance below the acropolis on the east passes an old Turkish road which 
must follow the line of one of the important ancient routes connecting Corinth with the 
Argolid. From the Corinthian plain this road ascends the narrow defile of the Longopotamos, 
cuts through the western part of the Cleonaean valley, and crosses over the ridge toward 
Mycenae and Argos by the pass which leads through the green wood and gardens surround- 


Figure I. GENERAL VIEW OF THE SITE FROM THE NorrH 


ing the modern chapel of Hagios Sostis near the railway station of Nemea. There can hardly 
be a doubt that this was one of the main highways of traffic in classical as well as prehistoric 
times. 

Across the valley to the southeast, in a subsidiary plain below the village of Hagios 
Vasilios, some two miles from Cleonae and perhaps one and one-half from the presumable 
course of the ancient road, stands a low hill (Fig. 1) on which grow a few stunted wild 
pear trees, and here and there, in spots marking an old stone heap, clusters of a pecul- 
iar shrub called by the local farmers “‘zygouries.”’! From these shrubs, which are its 


1 Zygouria = anagyris foetida, familiar along the north shore of the Mediterranean, and occurring in Greece from Thessaly 
to Crete. In Crete it is also known as “‘azogyron,” so Dr. Hadzidakis tells me; and perhaps Azoria Hill, excavated by Mrs. 
Harriet Boyd Hawes in Eastern Crete, owes its name to a dialectal form of the name of the same shrub. 

I 


2 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


most conspicuous feature, the hill itself has come to be known by the same name, 
Zygouries. 

The situation of Zygouries is a very striking one: close at hand on the south rise the 
towering cliffs of Mt. Tretus in three well-defined masses now called “Aaguas,” “Kov- 
Touma, and “ris Tlavaylas 6 Bpdxos,” surmounted by broad plateaus which are much 
frequented by shepherds with their flocks; to the north a rich agricultural region slopes 
gently away in a series of undulations draining into the Longopotamos. Far to the west 
appears the long ridge culminating in flat-topped Phoukas, beyond which may be seen in 
the remoter distance the mountains of the Arcadian highlands; and on the east a succession 
of partly wooded hills stretches away to the upland of Tenea. 

A second highway must have traversed this valley from east to west in ancient times, 
following approximately the line now taken by the railway and the modern carriage road. 


Ficure 2.. GENERAL View oF THE SITE FROM THE WEST 


This route, no doubt the direct road from the Isthmus, coming up through the gap between 
Mt. Oneion and Acrocorinth, reached the broad watershed at Chiliomodi, then dropped 
down rapidly to the plain below Hagios Vasilios, and continued westward, climbing again 
to the saddle at Nemea station in order to descend finally through the Dervenaki Pass to 
the Argive plain. At some point not far to the northwest of Zygouries this route must 
have intersected that coming up the Longopotamos from the north. The hill of Zygouries 
thus offered a highly favorable position for a prehistoric village, lying in a somewhat se- 
cluded tributary valley of its own, in control of a fertile agricultural district, and not far 
from an important cross road of traffic. 

The hill of Zygouries (Fig. 2), somewhat irregular in shape, measures about 165 m. from 
north to south and has a width of ca. 70 m. at its widest point. It is a natural ridge of 
conglomerate or gravelly limestone on which lies a deposit of earth and débris, the product 
of gradual accumulation as a result of successive prehistoric settlements. 

At the summit of the hill the deposit is very thin; in some places the crumbly rock is 
not more than 0.30 m. below the surface of the ground. Toward the eastern and western 


pot Ld Es 5, 


slopes, however, the accumulation is much thicker, attaining a maximum depth of ca. 
3 m. Apparently the top of the hill was at some time — probably more than once — 
cut down or leveled off, being thus for the most part swept clear of its prehistoric deposit. 
This operation was certainly carried out in mediaeval times, as was clearly shown by the 
Byzantine walls and the Byzantine pottery discovered in immediate juxtaposition with 
Early Helladic remains in Trenches IV and VI; but a similar operation had in all probability 
already been effected in the Late Helladic Period. 

Apart from the Byzantine pottery and the walls mentioned above, all the remains found 
at Zygouries belong to the prehistoric age; nothing of later date came to light. There are 
no modern buildings on the hill. The whole surface was under cultivation, being planted 
at the time of the excavations chiefly with vetch and beans. The mound is not, however, 
very favorable to agriculture, since the numerous stones and stone walls covering it make 
ploughing difficult. 

The prehistoric deposit allows itself to be divided clearly into three main layers, though 
the traces of the middle one in the chronological sequence are much more scanty than those 
of the other two. These layers are the Early, Middle, and Late Helladic and correspond 
closely with the stratification observed at Korakou and at other sites. At Zygouries, how- 
ever, these layers do not all extend continuously over the whole hill, one overlying the other 
in regular order; as a result of the cutting down and leveling mentioned above, the strati- 
graphic sequence has been disturbed. In consequence we find that the prehistoric deposit 
on the central part of the hill is almost purely Early Helladic with only a few remnants of 
the Middle Helladic layer, which may be seen in the Minyan and Mattpainted sherds from 
_ Trenches V and VI, and in the Middle Helladic graves; while the Late Helladic Period is 
here almost entirely unrepresented. Near the eastern edge of the hill, on the other hand, the 
Late Helladic Period is well represented in at least two of its phases, while below it lie 
Early Helladic remains to a considerable depth. Farther down the slope again the Late 
Helladic layer is thick and comparatively well preserved with a clear Middle Helladic 
stratum resting on native rock below it. The cemetery, finally, appears to have been in use 
throughout the whole Bronze Age, as graves of all three periods, Early, Middle, and Late 
Helladic, were included in it. 


CHAR TE RST 


ARCHITECTURE 
I. Earty HeEtvtapic Pertop 


LMOST everywhere in the central part of the hill where digging was undertaken 

a maze of walls belonging to the Early Helladic Period came to light (PLares I 

and IT). These walls lie very close to the present surface of the ground and have 

suffered no little damage from the plough and from other causes, rendering it difficult to 

identify clearly their connections and to recognize with certainty the original complete plan 
of the buildings to which they once belonged. 

The walls are generally from 0.60 m. to 0.g0 m. in thickness, built of unworked stones 

of good size, laid in clay. In some cases the lower part of the construction is considerably 


Ficure 3. Earty Heiiapic SrrEET FROM THE SOUTH 


thicker than the upper, which gradually diminishes in steplike courses. Some of these walls 
are ca. 1.50 m. high, but only some 0.50 m. of this projected originally above ground, the 
remainder having constituted a solid foundation. The superstructure of the house above the 
stone base was of course built of crude bricks; many more or less complete specimens of 
such bricks were found. 

Though the complete plans of the separate houses remain in many respects somewhat 
uncertain, it is evident that the establishment or village as a whole consisted of numerous 
small dwellings set close together and separated by narrow crooked streets or alleys. One 

: 


ARCHITECTURE 5 


such street (No. 27 on the plan, Piare II; Fig. 3) was traced for more than ten metres, 
running north and south. It averages only 1.25 m. in width and is bounded by walls of 
houses on either side. It is made of a thick layer of small pebbles and potsherds, very well 
packed and trodden, and apparently also received much rubbish thrown out from the ad- 
joining houses, such as animal bones (usually split so that the marrow could be extracted), 
mussel shells, snail shells, fragments of small objects of bronze, broken pottery, etc. 


Ficure 4. Narrow Lane FRomM THE East 


Branching off from this narrow street is a still narrower alley, running westward for 
a distance of ca. 8.00 m. (No. 18 on the plan, Pare II; Fig. 4). Its width is hardly more 
than 0.go m., and it was probably merely the approach to a single house. It is constructed 
of exactly the same sort of material as the street already described. The alley seems to have 
ended when it reached the door of the house. The street, on the other hand, went on farther 
to the north, but its continuation could not be traced to any great distance, since it ex- 
tended into an area which has suffered much disturbance from later building. 

No extensive architectural remains of the Early Helladic Period have hitherto been 
published, previous discoveries in this field having been very scanty indeed, and the ten 
separate houses which could, with some uncertainties, be distinguished at Zygouries seem, 
therefore, to merit more than passing attention. Before entering upon the detailed descrip- 
tion, however, which will be given here to make the record complete, a brief summary may 
be offered of the general conclusions which these remains appear to warrant. 


6 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


The ‘dwelling houses at Zygouries are for the most part small and apparently of no 
standardized shape, though all are rectangular in design and regularly composed of two 
or more rooms. What seems to be a constant feature in almost all is a tendency to make the 
chief inner chamber roughly square in plan; indeed, this inner square room, sometimes 
small, sometimes relatively large, may be taken as one of the characteristic marks of these 
Early Helladic houses. In some cases there certainly was a fixed hearth in the centre of the 
room; in others no trace of any such arrangement could be recognized. The outside door 
in three cases, where satisfactory evidence of its position was preserved, led into the smaller 
of the two rooms forming the house, and in all three instances was placed on the long side 
of the building. The roof was undoubtedly flat; no trace of columns was found, and no 
column bases came to light, but it is possible that wooden supports were used where neces- 
sary. No rule of orientation was observed; since the houses appear to have stood in groups 
or blocks formed by intersecting streets and lanes, these latter must have been the determin- 
ing factor in the orientation of the buildings. There was some slight evidence for the use 
of party walls; but perhaps the two houses thus connected were not entirely independent 
dwellings. In a few instances it looks as if the house faced an open court, which may have 
been surrounded by a wall. 

It is safe to say that none of these Early Helladic houses at Zygouries is of the so-called 
“megaron type”; that is, the main element of the plan is in no case a long room with a 
central hearth and with an entrance through a portico at one end. These houses are of a 
quite different character and may perhaps be more closely related to the types represented 
in the Cycladic settlements, like Phylakopi, or in the small towns in Crete, such as Pseira 
and Gournia (though these latter are naturally much later 
in date). 
ie It must be considered a noteworthy fact that no trace of 
apsidal construction came to light in the Early Helladic layer 
at Zygouries. All the walls uncovered are straight or were 
obviously meant to be straight, and the corners are in all 
cases rectangular or closely approach a right angle. And 
yet it cannot be doubted that curved construction was known 
and practiced in contemporary settlements not a great dis- 
tance away. An apsidal type of house, acutely restored by 
Bulle, is represented at Orchomenos (Orchomenos, p. 35), 
and a remarkable further achievement of Early Helladic 
architects is illustrated in the monumental circular founda- 
tion discovered beneath the Mycenaean palace at Tiryns 
(Karo, Fiihrer durch die Ruinen von Tiryns, pp. 7 f.). It must 
be admitted, however, that the remains at Orchomenos were 
sadly scanty at best, and in view of the abundant evidence 
of rectangular construction now available from Zygouries, 
it cannot be maintained that the apsidal type of house 
; was the prevailing type everywhere in the Early Helladic 
Ficure 5. Pian or House D Period. 


ARCHITECTURE a] 


1. House D (Nos. 16 and 17 on the plan, Piare II; Fig. 5). 

Standing on the northwest side of the corner formed by the street and the alley which 
have already been mentioned, is a small building of which the plan seems to be clear and 
approximately complete. The walls of this house are firmly built of small stones, and 
measure 0.60 m. to 0.65 m. in thickness. They are well preserved on the east, south, and west 
sides, but the north end is covered over by a later wall, presumably Mycenaean in date. 
The house is long and narrow, measuring 5.65 m. from north to south (inside dimensions) 


Ficure 6. House D rrom THE SouTH 


by 2.50 m. from east to west. This length is not the original full dimension, since the later 
wall crossing the north end of the building has shortened the room somewhat; but it is 
probable that this chamber was originally not much more than 0.50 m. longer. 

The house is divided into two rooms, a small chamber 1.40 m. by 2.50 m. at the south 
(No. 16), and a larger room 3.65 m. by 2.50 m. at the north (No. 17). A doorway between the 
two rooms is clearly marked near the eastern end of the partition wall; it is very narrow, 
having a width of only 0.65 m. The outside door seems to have opened through the east- 
ern wall of the small south chamber upon the street passing along the side of the house. Just 
inside the wall here, on the north side of the presumable door-opening, lies a stone in which 
a circular hole has been cut or worn. Though not very well cut, this hole was unmistakably 
intended for a pivot; it is 0.04 m. deep and has a diameter of 0.11 m. at the top, which 
diminishes to 0.04 m. at the bottom. At the point where the stone was found it would 
- serve well enough for a simple door, opening from the street. The level of the street is some- 
what higher than that of the floor within, and a person entering would need to watch his 
step. Two stones set on edge in the wall, 1.00 m. apart, suggest the width of the door- 
opening. 


8 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


The small south room thus appears to be simply an anteroom, while the larger chamber 
to the north was evidently the main living room of the house, and we have here, therefore, 
a good example of the so-called “but and ben” type of construction, or of what may perhaps 
better be described as a primitive two-room dwelling. 

A considerable amount of pottery was found on the earthen floor of the north room, 
including one complete sauceboat and a high cylindrical stand, perhaps the support of a 
broad, shallow basin (Fig. 108). Against the original north wall probably stood a row of 
pithoi like those in the House of the Pithoi (p. 11). One of these is still in place and may 
be seen in the illustration (Fig. 6) at the northwest corner beneath the Mycenaean wall 
which runs directly over it. The presence of this pithos is the evidence suggesting that the 
original end of the room was only a short distance farther north. 

House D lies directly adjoining the House of the Pithoi, but the boundary between the 
two is not formed by a party wall; each house has its own wall of full width. 


2. House A (Nos. 6 and 7 on the plan, Prats II; Fig. 7). 

This building lies some distance north of the house just described, too near the edge 
of the hill to have escaped damage at the hands of the builders of the Mycenaean period. 
One room of the house is, however, still well preserved, and enough of the remainder exists 
to allow a practically certain reconstruction of the plan. 

The preserved room (6 on the plan) is a square chamber, measuring ca. 2.70 m. on a side, 
with solidly built foundation walls. These walls originally continued southward beyond 
room 6, and it is here that the second chamber may be recognized. Though the upper part 
of the east wall has been demolished, its substructure still remains in situ and at a point 
1.65 m. south of the partition wall reaches a corner from which a foundation in wretched 
condition may be followed westward. This undoubtedly 
marks the original south end of the house, and in this 
direction there are traces of a southwest corner in line with 
the existing west wall of room 6. 

We thus have here again a small two-roomed house 
similar to that described above. In this case, too, the 
entrance from outside leads into the smaller room. It is 
clearly marked in the east wall of the latter, where there 
is an Opening ca. 0.62 m. wide. Just inside it is a large flat 
slab of limestone which evidently served as a threshold 
(Fig. 8). 

This house lies directly in the line of the street coming 
from the south, and thus made necessary a sharp turn in 
the roadway. The street could hardly have swung to the 


west, since the north wall of House D presumably blocked 
Q ° zm- it in this direction. To the east, however, there is no ob- 


stacle, and the road was most probably carried on here 
past the southeast corner of House A. At this point 
Fioure 7. Puaw or House A it probably turned northward again, and the door of 


‘ 


ARCHITECTURE 9 


the house would thus have opened directly from the street, as was the case in 
House D. 

A fragment of a pivot stone was found lying on the partition wall between the two rooms, 
apparently not in its original position. The clay floor was not especially well marked, and 
no trace of a fixed hearth was observed. The objects found in the house were few, including, 
apart from broken pottery, only a small vase in the form of a bird, two whorls and a conical 
object, perhaps a primitive idol, of terracotta, and a piece of flat bronze wire. 


Ficure 8. House A FroM THE SouUTH 


3. The “House of the Pithoi” (Nos. 3, 4, and § on the plan, Piare IT; Fig. g). 

The largest and most pretentious building uncovered on the hill of Zygouries lies im- 
mediately to the west of House D, not far from the central part of the mound. It is not 
approached from the street, nor from the alley mentioned above; perhaps another street 
ran along the crest of the hill, on the west side of the house, where it had its entrance. 
The house apparently consisted of a large square chamber entered from the west through 
an open vestibule (Fig. 10), with a smaller room or rooms adjoining on the northeast, but 
the plan in this direction may be incomplete. 

The square chamber is of considerable size and is well preserved. It measures approxi- 
mately 5.60 m. by 5.55 m. and is built with very solid substantial walls ca. 0.go m. thick. 
These walls are 1.50 m. high, but only the upper third of this projected above the floor of the 


fe) THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


house. In its lower part this foundation is much thicker than above. It is constructed 
in fairly regular courses, which from the floor of the room upward are roughly stepped so 
that the wall diminishes in thickness (Fig. 11). 

Almost in the axis of the west wall is a very large doorway leading in from what seems 


NY 
Of OO 


oS 


/ 
ba 
‘ 


~~ 


Figure 9. Pian or tHE “House or THE Prruor” anp Apyorntnc Houses 


to be a vestibule, which occupies the full width of the square chamber. The doorway is 
2.10 m. wide and is paved with a layer of irregular unworked stones, which thus form a 
threshold. The pavement does not, however, occupy the full depth of the opening, being 
ca. 0.1§ m. narrower than the thickness of the wall. On the inner side of the threshold, in 
the centre of the doorway, is a rectangular recess in the pavement, ca. 0.25 m. wide by 0.12 
m. deep. This recess looks as if it had been intended for a heavy wooden gatepost dividing 


ARCHITECTURE II 


the doorway into two equal parts and helping to support a lintel. The doorway is in any 
case so wide that a double door would seem to be required. Set into the floor of the room 
on the south side of the doorway is a small block of poros in the top of which a circular de- 
pression has clearly been cut. This is without doubt a pivot hole in which a heavy wooden 
door pivot revolved; no similar stone was found on the north side of the door, but it may 
be presumed that one originally existed here also. Two such stones not i” situ were brought 
to light in this area of the excavations. The pivot stone at the south side of the door is set 


Ficure 10. VESTIBULE AND SQUARE CHAMBER, House OF THE PITHOI, FROM THE WeEsT 


some 0.30 m. into the room and away from the door. It seems, accordingly, that the door 
could not be shut without leaving a considerable crack; but this could easily be filled with 
branches or reeds and clay. 

In the north wall of the room near the northeast corner is a second doorway, much 
smaller than the first. It leads into a second square chamber, which, though not so large as 
the principal room, is still of spacious proportions. Unfortunately the walls have been 
damaged in this region by constructions of Mycenaean times. The doorway is 0.95 m. wide. 
This opening is so narrow that there was probably only a single door; no pivot stone was 
found. 

Along the east wall of the great room, beginning at the southeast corner, stood a row 
of large pithoi. Four were found in place, two practically complete, two in part only, and 
there may well have been originally two or three more. If so, they were destroyed when the 
Mycenaean walls in this section were built. The pithoi, decorated with raised incised bands, 


ig THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


and also provided with large cylindrical bosses (Figs. 111, 112), were no doubt storage jars 
for oil, meal, and other food supplies of the household. As a distinctive feature of the house 
they have been used to give a name to the building. 

The floor of the room is made of trodden clay laid on a prepared bed, varying from 0.05 
m. to 0.25 m. in thickness, composed of whitish clay, pebbles, potsherds, and the like. The 


Ficure 11. Square Cuamser, House or THE PITHOI, FROM THE NortH, SHowinc Streppep WALL AND Row 
oF PirHor 


variation in thickness of this bed is probably due merely to an attempt to lay a level floor 
on a sloping or irregular ground. 

Scattered about on the floor of the room were found sixteen complete vases, four or 
five intact, the rest in fragments. They are chiefly typical Early Helladic shallow bowls, 
but among them is an interesting sauceboat, the spout of which is made in the form of a 
ram’s head (PLare X). Another vessel deserving of mention is a coarse cooking pot which 
still contained a large beef bone, undoubtedly the remains of the last meal prepared in the 
house before its destruction by fire (Fig. 10). 

Several crude bricks, baked hard by the fire which destroyed the house, were found 
resting on the floor of the room, and there was also here a thick, hard layer of clay from 
similar dissolved bricks. The dimensions of the whole bricks are 0.14 m. to 0.1§ m. thick, 
0.18 m. to 0.20 m. wide, and more than 0.30 m. long. 


ARCHITECTURE 13 


Near the centre of the room an area approximately 1.00 m. broad seemed considerably 
harder than the surrounding floor and showed indications of having been baked by fire. 
This was clearly the hearth. Its outline is roughly a circle and its centre seems to have 
been slightly depressed. 

Between the hearth and the west door on the floor lay a large mill-stone of the saddle- 
quern type. 

Though the walls are very thick and solid and capable of sustaining considerable weight, 
the great size of the room makes it seem likely that pillars or posts were employed to assist 


Ficure 12. FraGMents oF Cray Packina From Roor, House oF THE PitrHo! 


in holding up the roof. No traces of such interior supports came to light, it is true, but if 
they were merely wooden posts or columns of crude brick they need have left no permanent 
indication. No stone bases were found. 

The roof itself was undoubtedly flat. Some fragments of clay packing and surfacing 
give an idea of the manner of construction. Resting on the walls — and, as mentioned 
above, probably supported by posts — were heavy wooden beams. These were apparently 
not squared, but small tree trunks or logs left in the round and placed close together. 
Over these was spread a layer of clay, filling up the chinks and levelling the platform. 
Upon this was laid in turn a row of reeds, running not parallel to the heavy beams but 
diagonally across them. Several fragments of the clay packing were found, bearing on 
one side the impress of the large logs, on the other that of the reeds (Fig. 12). Above the 
reeds, finally, was laid a thick surfacing of clay. Fragments of this also were found, preserv- 
ing on their lower side the impression of the reeds, and smooth on their upper surface. 
Several other hardened bits bore the impression of reeds both on their top and bottom; where 
these were employed is not clear. 


14 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


A roof of this type of construction must have been very solid and heavy, requiring strong 
support. But at the same time it must have fulfilled its purpose entirely satisfactorily, 
being, with occasional attention, proof against the hardest rain. 

The inner room, No. § on the plan (Fig. 9), entered through the narrow doorway men- 
tioned above, is approximately square, having an average length from east to west of 3.90 
m. and an average width from north to south of 3.70 m. Two later walls, probably Mycen- 
aean, and a mass of stones in the southern part of this chamber have obliterated the original 
arrangements here. The southern end of the east wall of the room seems also to have been 
demolished or at least modified when House A was built; for the northwest corner of this 
latter 1s superposed on this wall. Along the north and east walls runs a narrow border of 
small stones set at the level of the floor. What the purpose of this arrangement might have 
been is not clear; perhaps it formed an edge to the clay pavement of the floor. 

Apart from numerous potsherds, nothing of consequence was found in this room. Not 
far from the north wall and almost in the axis of the chamber stood the bottom portion 
of a small pithos which had been set into a hole in the floor and was thus preserved. 

It is not certain whether there were other rooms belonging to the house beyond this room 
or not. The west exterior wall seems to extend on to the north, suggesting that the building 
continued farther in this direction; but the remains on this side are in a ruinous condition, 
and the excavations were not extended farther northward. 

To the west of the large central room is a spacious open area (No. 3 on the plan) which 
may have served as a vestibule or porch. Its floor is ca. 0.30 m. higher than that of the room 
itself. It has a solidly built wall on the south, which is in fact a westward continuation of 
the south wall of the great chamber; but no corresponding wall appears on the north. 
The western boundary, however, is clearly marked by a broad line of flat stones resembling 
a pavement; it is somewhat irregular, but averages ca. 1.00 m. in width. The whole area 
measures about 3.50 m. from east to west by 5.45 m. from north to south, and can hardly 
be explained as anything other than a covered vestibule before the main entrance to the 
large room. If this explanation is correct, we might expect a row of columns along its west 
front, and there are in fact in the strip of pavement here a number of large flat stones which 
would serve admirably as bases for such supports. These need have been no more than 
simple posts of wood; and if they ever existed they have left no traces. The line of pavement 
may thus have been laid in order to mark the entrance to the covered portico, and may also 
have been useful in preventing rain water from washing in to make the earthen floor muddy. 

The absence of a wall on the north side is something of a difficulty. At this point, how- 
ever, native rock comes up to the level of the floor, and certain shallow pits cut here in 
Mycenaean times suggest that later adjustments may have removed all remains of Early 
Helladic construction if there ever was a wall here. At the same time the possibility of a 
simple porch open on two sides, north and west, must be admitted. 

In the southeast corner of this covered portico stood the bottom of a small pithos fitted 
into a cutting hollowed out in the floor. Two similar pithoi, of which only the bottom part 
was in each case preserved, stood in similar cuttings in the northern part of the area. 

Just to the southwest of this porch is a small isolated quadrangular room, No. 2 on the 
plan, of which the north wall is interrupted by the line of pavement bounding the court on 


ARCHITECTURE ° 15 


the west. Possibly there was an entrance to the room at this point. This small room is not 
exactly rectangular; it measures ca. 2.15 m. east and west by 1.45 m. north and south. 
Its purpose could not be determined; perhaps it was a stable or an outhouse connected 
with the court. 


4. “House of the Snailshells” (Nos. 19 and 20 on the plan, Pate II; Fig. g). 
Adjoining the “House of the Pithoi” on the south is a small building in a poor state of 
preservation, but presenting a plan which is fairly clear. This structure, built up against the 


Ficure 13. GENERAL VIEW oF CENTRAL AREA OF EXCAVATIONS FROM THE SOUTHWEST 


south wall of the large house, is evidently another example of the two-roomed type of 
dwelling, similar to House A and House D described above. It appears to have been entered 
from the narrow alley which here widens into a small open space before the door — No. 
18 on the plan. 

The house consists of two rooms, tg and 20 on the plan. The easternmost is approxi- 
mately square, measuring roughly 2.00 m. on a side. In the south wall of this room is the 
outside door, which must have been very narrow, since the opening, indicated by a break 
in the wall, has a width of only 0.85 m. The western room is somewhat larger, with an aver- 
age length of 3.30 m. and a width of 2.20 m. The partition wall between these two chambers 
does not now appear above the level of the floor; its upper part was of course constructed 
of crude brick. There is consequently nothing to indicate the position of the doorway 


16 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


connecting these two rooms. In the south side of the western chamber is a break in the wall, 
0.§5 m. wide, which may perhaps mean that there was originally an opening here. If so, 
it led into a restricted space at the end of the alley, but walled off from the latter and closed 
also at its west end. Possibly this served as a small cupboard; in any case it is the most 
interesting feature of this house. 

The floor of the two rooms, made of trodden earth and clay, was covered with quantities 
of snailshells, perhaps the débris from the final repast in the house. Scattered about were 
also a large number of nests of potsherds, allowing the more or less complete restoration of 
thirty-seven vases of various shapes and sizes, ranging from large jars to diminutive saucers. 

West of this small house, and separated from it by a substantial wall, 0.60 m. high, in 
which there is no opening,! is a small area enclosed by walls on three sides. Whether this 
formed part of the house or not is not now evident. This area, No. 21 on the plan, is 2.40 
m. wide and has a length east and west of 3.00 m. It seems never to have had a wall at its 
western end and must presumably have been open in this direction, though it was probably 
roofed. The floor is only about 0.15 m. above native rock, but this latter slopes rapidly 
downward toward the east. At the east end of the room and partly covered by the wall 
stands a small pithos of which only the lower portion remains, sunk into a depression in 
the floor. This appears to belong to an earlier period in the use of this area; perhaps there 
was then a doorway through the wall — or no wall at all. The open west end of the area 
was partly blocked by the small room, No. 2, mentioned above in connection with the 
House of the Pithoi, and this compartment too may well have been a dependency of that 
house. 


5. House W (Nos. 23, 24, 25, 26 on the plan, Piate II; Fig. 14). 

On the south side of the alley (18) and west of the street (27) lies another complex of 
walls belonging to a system the plan of which is not so clear as might be desired. The 
house, if indeed it be a house, seems to have consisted of one or two adjoining rooms on each 
side, east and west, of a central courtyard paved with rough cobblestones (23, 24, 25, 26). 
The entrance to the court appears to have been from the south, where access is provided 
by means of another narrow lane (37) branching off westward from the main street. This 
lane probably served as the approach not only to House W, but also to House S, which will 
be described below. The lane varies from 1.00 m. to ca. 1.15 m. in width and is made in the 
same way as the alley already discussed above, except at its west end, where it is paved 
with small stones. ; 

The courtyard (24) measures ca. 4.25 m. from north to south by 3.25 m. from east to 
west. Almost the whole of it is laid with large and small stones, forming a pavement which 
in the southern half of the area is considerably higher than in the northern part. On the 
south side there is an opening in the wall ca. 3.07 m. wide, and here there is a step down 
to the level of the lane which is paved with smaller stones. Nothing of consequence was 
found in the court. 

The walls of the structure to the west of the court are in a very ruinous condition and 
not much can be said of the original arrangement here. The north and south lines are pre- 


‘It is possible that an original doorway here has been filled in with stone construction. 


ARCHITECTURE Ef 


served and a small fragment of the west wall at the northwest corner makes it possible to 
fix the approximate dimensions of the building (23) as 3.45 m. from north to south by 2.45 


7 
a 
Y, 


\) 
7 


Ficure 14. Pian or Houses W anv S 


m. from east to west. Whether this was all one room or not could not be determined; a mass 
of small stones lying in disorder in an irregular line across the middle of the area may be 
the débris from a demolished partition wall which once divided the house into two small 


18 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


rooms. At the very centre of the building is a large flat stone which may have had some 
structural purpose. In the southern half of this area was found the lower part of a large 
pithos embedded in the clay floor. Around it lay a considerable quantity of broken pottery 
among which were fragments of many sauceboats. 

Just south of this ruinous building is an open area (40) measuring some 3.10 m. from 
north to south by more than 4.00 m. from east to west, surrounded by walls on the north, 


Ficure 15. House S From THE SOUTHEAST 


east, and south. The western boundary has disappeared if there ever was one. A break in the 
north wall near the northeast corner suggests a doorway (ca. 0.90 m. wide) and a similar 
opening, 0.63 m. wide, appears in the south wall near the southeast corner. It is not clear 
whether this was a covered room or a small open court; it seems in. any case to have be- 
longed to the house just described (House W). No objects of importance came to light here. 

The construction to the east of the court (24) is in an almost equally unsatisfactory state 
of preservation. Here we have, however, one clearly marked room (25) in the angle formed 
by the street and the alley. It is very irregular in shape, with an average width from north 
to south of 1.57 m. and an average length from east to west of 1.80 m. None of the corners 
are rectangles and the opposite walls are not parallel. The walls are well constructed solid 
foundations ca. 0.60 m. thick, and show no indication of a door. It is difficult to understand 
what use could have been made of a room so small as this. 


ARCHITECTURE 19 


Immediately adjoining on the south is a somewhat larger area (26) roughly trapezoidal 
in shape, measuring 2.50 m. to 3.10 m. in width by 2.80 m. to 3.25 m. in length from north to 
south. It is walled on the north, east, and south, but no foundation appeared on the west, 
where its limit is marked by the straight edge of the cobblestone pavement of the court 
(24). Apparently then we have here a roofed shed or shelter with an open facade toward 
the courtyard. 

Beneath the floor of rooms 25 and 26 was revealed a heavy wall running north and south, 
which clearly belongs to an earlier period and must have been covered over when those 


Ficure 16. Room 39, House S, rrom THE SouTH 


rooms were in use. No corresponding wall came to light with which this foundation could 
_ be connected, and nothing further can be said regarding the structure to which it belonged. 
From the evidence of the pottery and other objects found in the deposit about the walls it 
is clear that there was no great chronological difference between the two periods. 


6. House S (Nos. 38, 39, 41 on the plan, PLare II; Fig. 14). 

South of the lane (37) are the fairly well preserved walls of a house consisting of two or 
perhaps three rooms (38, 39, and 41). The building is oriented from southeast to northwest. 
The foundations are strongly built, from 0.60 m. to 0.70 m. thick, and are intact except at 
the south corner and at the north angle of the western room, possibly a later addition. 
The plan is essentially the same as that of House D, comprising a narrow outer room (38) 
and a large square inner apartment (39) to which a small additional chamber (41) is at- 
tached on the west } (Fig. 15). ; 


Room 38, slightly wedge-shaped, and narrowing toward the southwest, measures ca. 


1It is quite possible that House S and House W really belong together, forming a large L-shaped building, facing a court. 


20 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


2.20 m. by 4.00 m. A foundation ca. 0.g0 m. long projects into the middle of its north side, 
dividing this section into two small alcoves. The southern corner of the wall is missing, as 
already stated above, and it is possible that the outside door occupied this position. On the 
other hand, a narrowing of the foundation wall at the northeast end of the eastern alcove 
just mentioned suggests that an opening existed here, and this is the place which I believe 
the doorway to have occupied. The projecting wall is then explained as an effort to protect 
the entrance by causing it to lead in through a short passage. The floor of the room is made 
of well-trodden clay and earth. On it lay, in the inner corner of the west alcove, a nest of 
small pots, including several fragmentary “sauceboats.” The position of the door leading 
to room 39 could not be determined. 

Room 39 (Fig. 16) is clearly the main living room of the house. Though its corners are 
not perfect right angles, it is roughly square, measuring approximately 3.g0 m. on a side. 
The north wall is not completely preserved, as a section 1.75 m. long is missing midway 
between the side walls of the room.! As this open space is thus almost in the axis of the room, 
it might be thought to mark the position of a large central door through which the chamber 
could be entered from the lane outside. This is the more probable explanation, but another 
is possible. At the north end of the room and almost symmetrically placed on the axis of 
the room is a well-made circle of cobblestone pavement which overlaps in part the line of 
the wall. This circle has a diameter of ca. 1.05 m. and rises ca. 0.25 m. above the clay floor 
of the room. If the space, now open in the wall, were a doorway, this high obstacle squarely 
in the way would make entrance into the room, to say the least, very awkward. Unfor- 
tunately the top of the paved circle was only very slightly below the present surface of 
the ground and has consequently suffered so much damage that its original condition can- 
not be determined with certainty. Although actual traces of fire are quite lacking, I think 
we may have here the remains of a hearth built against the north wall of the room which 
must have been hollowed out behind it — an arrangement which would give protection to 
the fire and assist in carrying off the smoke. The weakening of the wall at this point, since 
it must then have been constructed roughly in the form of a half arch, would sufficiently 
account for its destruction. A paved circle in many ways similar to this was noted in House 
K at Korakou, where, however, this explanation was not ventured (Korakou, p- 96). No 
trace of a hearth elsewhere in room 39 came to light. The small objects from the floor, 
consisting chiefly of fragments of pottery, were not numerous. 

In the west wall of the room is a small opening slightly less than 0.50 m. wide. It is 
extraordinarily narrow for a door, and yet it seems clearly intended as a passage into the 
adjoining room 41. This latter looks like an addition to the house, as its walls do not bond 
into the foundations of the building. The room is trapezoidal in shape, being 2.50 m. wide 
at the southeast and narrowing to 1.75 m. at the northwest, with an average length of 3.45 
m. Besides the narrow passage leading in from room 39 there seem to be two further door- 
ways, one in the north and one in the south wall. Why a room of so diminutive size should 
have no fewer than three entrances did not become clear, nor was the use of the apartment 
explained. On the floor was found a nest of small vases, including tiny dishes and spoons. 


‘ No foundations whatever are now preserved in this space; either they have been torn out or, perhaps, they never existed 
atiall, 


ARCHITECTURE 21 
7. House E (Nos. 28 and 29 on the plan, Piate II; Fig. 17). 


On the east side of the street and opposite House W are the scanty remains of another 
small contemporary building. Lying near the edge of the hill it had the misfortune to fall 
within the area disturbed by construction in Mycenaean times, and the whole eastern part 
of it, comprising more than half its area, has thus been demolished. Enough remains, how- 
ever, to permit the conjecture that the original plan was very similar to that of House D. 
The west side wall of the house, along the street, is preserved to a length of 5.70 m. and 
the beginning of a partition wall which seems to have divided the structure into two rooms 
(28 and 29 on the plan) still exists. Unfortunately both the north and the south ends are 
missing, the former having made way for a wall of the Mycenaean period. 


8. House L (Nos. 2, 4, 5 on the plan, Pewre=H; Fig. 18). Treneh IT, Plate L. 

On the gradual northern slope of the hill a ane which at first glance seems to be of a 
somewhat different plan came to light. It is an L-shaped building consisting of three rooms 
(2, 4, 5 on the plan) facing a small court (3). This house is well constructed with walls 
averaging 0.60 m. in thickness (Fig. 19). The two south rooms (4, §) are clearly the chief 
rooms of the building and were surely closed and roofed. Room 4 measures 2.60 m. in width 
and has a length from north to south of 3.55 m. It appears to have been used mainly for 
storage purposes, as the remains of six pithoi were found in it (Fig. 20). In each case the base 
of the vessel was well preserved in its original position oat 
and inside it many fragments of its upper portion 
were recovered. So far as could be observed there was 
no regular order in the arrangement of the pithot: 
three stood more or less in a row along the west side 
of the room, one approximately in the centre, and 
two somewhat farther eastward. All were set into 
the floor and made secure by a packing of small 
stones around them. No recognizable remains were 
found to show what these storage jars had once con- 
tained. In addition to the pithoi the objects brought 
to light in this room (4) included two spindle whorls 
(or buttons), two mill-stones of the saddle-quern 
type, a pounder, two whetstones, an oyster shell, and 
in the floor and just below it six good obsidian 
knives together with a celt of gray flint. The pottery 
recovered within the room comprised a large askos, 
two complete shallow bowls (one of which contained 
a cylindrical bead of chalcedony), and numerous 


fragments. 
Room 4 was presumably connected by a door 
with room 5, but no evidence to establish its 
position came to light. It may have been some- \ 
where near the north end of the wall separating isonet Pili nbicuanE 


9 2M 


22 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


the two rooms, at a point where the construction is now in a very damaged 
condition. 

Room 5, measuring ca. 2.50 m. by 3.50 m., is only very slightly smaller than room 4. 
Its walls are well preserved on the east, south, and west; the east end of the north wall has, 
however, almost completely disappeared, and since no evidence was found to mark it else- 
where, a door, opening upon the court, may perhaps have occupied this place. In room 5 


Vdd 


\ 


Ficure 18. Pian or House L 


were found a celt, a whetstone, and almost a dozen obsidian blades (on, or below the floor), 
the major part of two “‘sauceboats” and a jar or jug of good fabric with a curious oval 
mouth, and one complete cooking vessel together with many fragments of another. The 
cooking in this simple establishment was thus apparently done in this room; no traces of 
a hearth could be observed, however, unless four small stones still resting on the earthen floor 
in the northern part of the chamber once formed part of it. They showed no signs of burning. 

Room 2 is a smaller apartment in the north wing of the house, with dimensions of 3.25 m. 
from north to south by 2.25 m. It seems to have been in part at least open toward the court, 
as its east wall terminates 1.15 m. before reaching the northeast corner and this opening 


ARCHITECTURE 23 


seems unduly large for an entrance into so small a room. There is no trace of a door leading 
into room 4; and this small room (2), though evidently belonging to House L, was appar- 
ently, therefore, a separate unit, accessible only from the court. What its specific purpose 
was could not be learned. Inside it were found a complete askos, a diminutive patera, the 
greater part of a spoon or ladle, and many potsherds. 

The east wall of the room is peculiar, since it turns at right angles and runs eastward 
alongside the north wall of rooms 4 and 5. Perhaps this foundation was not intended to sup- 
port a high wall, but merely a low bench or seat bordering the south side of the court. 


Ficure 19. House L From THE East 


No wall was discovered enclosing the court on the north and the east; it seems to have 
been merely an open space occupying the interior angle of the “L”’ of the house. It possessed 
a well-trodden floor of light clay, in which three small storage pithoi had been set. Only 
the bases of these pots remained in place; the rest had been broken and torn away as a result 
of cultivation, since the surface of the field was no more than 0.35 m. above the level of the 
floor. On the clay pavement were found five good blades of obsidian and fragments of pot- 
tery in some quantity. The large number of obsidian knives from the court and rooms 4 
and 5, twenty-three all told, suggests that in House L we may perhaps have the residence 
of a prehistoric dealer in cutlery. 

Beyond the wall to the west of room 2, chiefly in the area marked 1 on the plan, a con- 
siderable quantity of shattered pottery came to light, from which it was possible to put 


24 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


together two good “sauceboats,” a jug, and several smaller vases. Perhaps this was the 
rubbish heap, where behind the building the broken dishes and the débris of the household 
were discarded. 

As remarked at the outset, House L impresses one at first sight as being of a different 
type from the other Early Helladic houses at Zygouries. But if room 2 is really, as seems 
in fact to be the case, a separate unit entered only from the court, we have remaining in 


Figure 20. House L rrom tHe Nortu, SHowinc Remains or Pirxnor 1n Room 4 


rooms 4 and 5 exactly the same arrangement of a two-roomed dwelling that we have seen 
illustrated in Houses D, A, and others. 

Trench &L 
g. House Y (Piate I; Fig. 21). 

Trench XI on the southwest slope of the mound brought to light a complex of walls 
which proved extremely difficult to disentangle. These remains lay some 0.20 m. to 0.30 m. 
below the surface of the ground and had doubtless been disturbed by ploughing; further- 
more an early Christian grave and some other digging and construction in this region, dated 
by the Byzantine potsherds occurring in the same context, had caused no little confusion. 

In the eastern part of the trench we seem to have the scanty remnants of foundations 
of two successive houses, one of which (4) apparently had a door at its southern end, opening 
on a narrow passage or street (7). The complete plan of these houses could not be made out. 
Room 4 at all events is of some size, measuring ca, 4.20 m. from east to west and probably 


ARCHITECTURE 


more than 4.25 m. from north to 
south. In this room, apart from the 
usual quantity of potsherds, was dis- 
covered an important button seal of 
terracotta, the first of its kind among 
the relics of the Early Helladic Period 
on the Greek mainland. From a small 
pocket between walls just southeast 
of the doorway (7) a mass of pottery 
was extracted, yielding among other 
vases two “‘sauceboats”’ and a shallow 
bowl. 


10, House U, the “House of the 
Dagger” (Nos. 2 and 3 on the plan, 
achXL PLaTE I; Fig. 22). 

Not far to the west of the fore- 
going, another building was uncovered, 
the original arrangement of which is 
hardly easier to comprehend, though 
here at least the remains appear to 


Ficurer 22. Pian or House U 


{ 
| 
| 
| 


i) 
Gn 


Figure 21. Pian or House Y 


belong to one period alone. This 1s House 
U, comprising the areas numbered 2 and 
3 on the plan. Whether these were actually 
roofed and closed rooms or not 1s a puzzling 
question. Area 2 in any case seems to have 
been covered. It has substantial walls, 0.50 
m. to 0.60 m. thick, on all four sides and 
measures 2.60 m. wide by 5.25 m. long from 
north to south (outside dimensions), form- 
ing aroom ca.1.s0m.by 4.00 m. There is no 
evidence for the position of a door or doors. 
The room had a good floor of clay, small 
stones, and potsherds; on, or in, it were found 
a bronze awl, a “stopper” of terracotta, and 
some chips of obsidian. 

The floor continued eastward, extending 
over area 3, which is much larger. Of a 
roughly trapezoidal shape, it has an average 
width from east to west of 3.75 m. and a 
length of ca. 4.50 m. (Fig. 23). The walls 
surrounding this space on the north, east, 
and south consist for the most part of two 


26 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


courses of stones about 0.35 m. thick, and do not appear to have supported a high super- 
structure. Perhaps they formed merely the boundary of an uncovered courtyard; in 
such case the roofed dwelling must have been limited to the single room occupying 
the whole width of the court at its west side. In the northeast part of the “court” a few un- 
worked stones and irregular patches of red clay (perhaps from dissolved crude brick), 
much hardened by fire, suggest the possibility of a hearth. Near the northwest corner 
of the “court” was a small pit roughly lined with small stones, having a diameter of ca. 


Ficure 23. House U rrom True NortHEeast 


0.80 m. and a depth of about one metre. Neither its date nor its purpose could be certainly 
determined, though it may perhaps have been a “bothros”’ belonging to the Early Helladic 
Period. A smaller pit, not far from the southwest corner of the “‘court,” seems to date from 
comparatively recent times, as it contained a number of Byzantine potsherds. On the east 
side of the “‘court,” finally, were found in a shallow depression in the floor a few small 
crumbling bones — the scanty remains of an infant burial. The interment must have taken 
place subsequently to the abandonment of the house as a dwelling, after the level of the 
ground had risen considerably, since the bottom of the grave was only slightly sunk into 
the floor of the “court’’; it should probably be assigned to the Middle Helladic Period, 
though its exact date could not be ascertained. 

On the floor of the “‘court”’ were found a flint saw, three obsidian blades, three “whorls” 
or buttons, a shallow bowl, and a small spoon or ladle; in the layer of stones forming the 


ARCHITECTURE Ne 


floor, a flint, a mill-stone, a number of boars’ tusks, a “stopper” of terracotta, the head of 
an animal (or a bird) of the same material, and a spindle whorl. A nest of pottery lying in 
a hollow among the foundations just east of the “court” produced an askos, two jugs, seven 
shallow bowls, a ladle, a ‘“‘sauceboat,” and a shallow dish or plate. 

Some distance below the floor of the court a clearly marked stratum of blackened earth 
points to an earlier period of occupation of this region. This burnt layer, ca. 0.10 m. thick, 


Ficure 24. Watts In Trencu V, FROM THE East 


extended under and beyond the walls of the court, but no walls which could be associated 
with it were revealed. 

South of House U there appears to have passed a narrow street, paved with a packing 
of small stones, sherds, and various débris. In the area marked g on the plan it is particu- 
larly clear and we seem to have the corner of two such streets intersecting at right angles. 
Among the stones of the pavement in this angle were found a well-preserved bronze dagger 
(PLate XX, No. 25), a flat bone implement, and a bone spool. Just to the west of the inter- 
secting streets a well-built wall, forming a corner, probably indicates the position of another 
house; but the foundation is preserved for only a short distance and almost nothing remains 
of the building. 

Walls of structures belonging to the Early Helladic Period were encountered in other 
trenches almost everywhere on the hill of Zygouries and below it in the sloping fields to the 


28 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


west, but no further house plans could be determined. In Trench V part of a room with a 
well-made floor came to light and perhaps a complete house exists at this point; the depth 
of the deposit here, however, and the remains of later structures at a higher level (Fig. 24) 
made it necessary to limit the area excavated to a comparatively narrow trench. 

Two pits cut in native rock side by side near the west edge of the hill may possibly be 
“bothroi’’ dating from the Early Helladic Period. They have approximately the shape of 
a large, rather spherical pithos, one, measured at the top, being 1.10 m. in diameter and 
swelling to 1.45 m, at its widest point, the second 1.45 m. across at the top and 1.85 m. 
at its greatest diameter; and the two are connected about half way down by an irregular 
hole. On the south side of the easternmost pit there seems to be a well-cut opening, leading 
perhaps into a third pit. This was not excavated. They were found filled with black earth, 
stones, and miscellaneous débris, and contained also some coarse Byzantine pottery. If 
they were originally constructed in Early Helladic times they must have been rediscovered 
and put to a new use in the Byzantine period; and the connecting hole between them is no 
doubt contemporary with their conversion into a cistern. The possibility that they are 
Early Helladic is strengthened by the discovery farther to the north, in the steep west slope 
of the hill, of remains of similar pits which can be dated from the objects found in them. 
Owing to the wearing away of the rock here, only the lower part of these “bothroi” is — 
preserved, in the form of three overlapping circular cuttings with rounded bottom. Though 
now of no great depth, they were filled with a mass of Early Helladic pottery, from which 
many vases have been more or less completely put together. In a long trial trench skirting 
the west side of the hill two further “‘bothroi”’ were discovered. One, almost filled with large 
stones, produced also coarse Byzantine pottery, as well as some Mycenaean and some Early 
Helladic sherds. The other, cut partly in rock, and reaching a depth of 3.20 m. below the 
present level of the ground, yielded a large quantity of exclusively Early Helladic potsherds. 


Il. Mrppie HeEtuapic Periop 


Architectural remains of the Middle Helladic Period were very scanty, consisting merely 
of short disconnected pieces of walls which gave little or no evidence for complete plans of 
houses. They lay chiefly on the western part of the hill in a region apparently much dis- 
turbed in later times. A curved wall in Trench VI may possibly have belonged to an apsidal 
house similar to those at Tiryns, Korakou, and elsewhere, but the remains are too in- 
complete to allow more than the conjecture. Deep pits sunk into the east slope of the hill 
revealed a thick Middle Helladic layer below the Late Helladic, and here also a short piece 
of well-built wall appeared. Some allowance must naturally be made for later disturbance 
and destruction, but in view of this scanty evidence it can hardly be doubted that the 
Middle Helladic settlement was a place of far less importance and prosperity than the Early 
Helladic town, which occupied the whole hill with its numerous houses closely crowded 
together. 


III. Lare Hewttapic Periop 


In Late Helladic times the settlement seems to have spread down into the flat ground to 
the east and west of the hill. Walls of houses, dated by the accompanying pottery, may be 


ARCHITECTURE 29 


Ficure 25. Pian oF THE Porrer’s SHoP 


NX 
NB 


fo) 
OOS ¢ 2@e 
as SOAS) 


30 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


seen in the banks of a small stream which flows northward in a deeply cut bed some fifty 
metres east of the mound. A trench between this stream bed and the edge of the hill also 
revealed foundation walls and traces of floors, one with a large terracotta vessel resembling 
a bathtub still resting on it. This whole region seems, however, to have been denuded to a 
considerable extent by the overflowing of the stream during heavy rains, and not much now 
survives of these Mycenaean constructions. In the fields on the west side of the hill, trial 
trenches likewise brought to light many walls with which quantities of Late Helladic III 
potsherds were associated. 


Ficure 26. THRresHOLD Sass in “Corripor” oF THE Porrer’s SHOP 


The top of the hill has also suffered denudation and perhaps its whole surface was cut 
down and levelled off in Byzantine times, as mentioned above. Consequently there are few 
Mycenaean remains, consisting merely of short unconnected bits of walls, and here and 
there a small pit filled with Late Helladic potsherds. 

Against the steep eastern slope of the hill, on the contrary, a deep accumulation of earth 
and débris has covered and preserved a considerable part of a large building belonging to 
the third Late Helladic Period. Interesting in itself, this structure, House B, is also, on 
account of the vast amount of pottery found within it, worthy of some description. 


House B (Nos. 12, 13, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 on the plan, Piate II; Fig. 25), 

The space for the building was provided by making a broad horizontal cutting into the 
sloping hillside and dumping the earth thereby removed, together with a great mass of 
stones, upon the lower ground to the east until a level platform was formed. The construc- 
tion rested, therefore, in part on solid earth, in part on made ground. The western portion, 
lying on its firm shelf and protected by the deep western edge of the cutting, has thus been 


1 fast 


ARCHITECTURE 31 


fairly well preserved; while the eastern half has in the course of time been carried down the 
hill and disappeared. Consequently only a part of the ground plan can now be certainly 
determined, though the limit of the stone fill on the east allows the line of the east wall to be 
conjectured approximately. The walls are preserved to a height corresponding to the level 
of the surface of the ground before excavation, and, therefore, rise gradually from east to 
west, following the slope of the hill, to their greatest height at the inner extremity of the 


Figure 27. Room 13, Porrer’s SHop, FROM THE SOUTH 


shelf. Solidly built of large and small unworked stones laid in clay, these walls seem calcu- 
lated to support a very heavy superstructure. The interior partitions average ca. 0.80 m. 
in thickness, while the exterior walls were certainly much more massive, though their exact 
dimensions can no longer be recognized. 

The building is oriented with its longer axis running about 30° east of north; the portion 
of it brought to light forms a rectangle some 15 m. long by 11.50 m. wide. This was divided 
into a series of rooms of various sizes to which access was apparently provided by means of 
a central passage parallel to the long axis of the building. How many chambers there were 
originally cannot now be stated with certainty. Four complete rooms (13, 30, 33, 34) west 
of the passage were cleared and part of one on the north (12); but there were no doubt others 
on the east which have fallen away down the slope of the hill. The passage itself (31 and 


32 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


32) can be recognized only by three large threshold slabs of as many successive doors in 
a row (Fig. 26); whether it was actually a closed corridor the east wall of which has now 
totally disappeared, or merely formed a line of passage by a succession of doorways through 
adjoining rooms is not absolutely clear. The latter supposition is the more probable, as the 


Ficure 28. Cooxine Pors as Tuey First AppeareD In Room 13 


Figure 29. SourHwest Corner or Room 12, SHowinc Five Craters, 
FROM THE NortTH 


three threshold blocks, which certainly mean that there were doors, would hardly have bees 
necessary so close together in a narrow closed corridor. 

Room 13 in the northwest corner is one of the best preserved, its west wall still rising to 
a height of 1.40 m. (Fig. 27). The room has a width of ca. 2.55 m. and a length of ca. 4.90 m. 
from north to south. On the east side, near the southeast corner, is a doorway ca. 1.05 m. 
wide; this was probably the only entrance and the only source of natural light for the room. 
A large slab of rough limestone occupying more than the full thickness of the wall forms a 
stone threshold. The walls were covered with a thick coat of rather coarse plaster which 


ARCHITECTURE 33 


J 


shows no trace of paint. The floor was made of hard earth and clay. The room itself is thus 
a simple chamber with no features especially unusual in Mycenaean buildings. Within it 
was found a store of pottery of noteworthy proportions. It contained more than five hundred 
unpainted deep bowls, probably for cooking purposes, some seventy-five small saucers, 
twenty small jars with three pierced lugs, three enormous stirrup vases, ten smaller pots 
of the same shape, and water jars, basins, ladles, cups, and other vessels, in smaller numbers. 


Ficure 30. SourHwest Corner oF Room 12, SHowinc Doorway To Room 13, AND THREE Craters STILL IN 
THE Position In WuicH THey Were Founp 


These vases were for the most part shattered, having been crushed by the débris which 
fell from above when the house was destroyed; but their original arrangement in the room 
was fairly clear. The cooking pots stood mainly at the south end of the chamber, packed 
one inside another in rouleaux, set close together on the floor (Fig. 28). Near them, just 
west of the doorway, were most of the saucers, the small jars, and the ladles. Farther to the 
north, near the centre of the room, were found several basins and the smaller stirrup vases, 
while the large ones and a water jar stood apparently against the east and west walls. Many 
cooking pots were brought to light here also, as well as in the northern part of the room, but 
not in such quantities as in the southwest corner. 

The room immediately adjoining on the east (12) is of larger size than the foregoing, but 
not so well preserved. It measures ca. 4.95 m. from north to south; its east wall has been 


34 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


completely destroyed, but if, as suggested above, we take the limit of the stone fill as mark- 
ing its approximate line, we may conjecture a chamber almost square in shape. Considerably 
more than half of it has been swept down the declivity eastward, as the present slope of the 
hill cuts through the floor only ca. 2.00 m. beyond the west wall. The room had two doors, 
one already described, opening into room 13, and one leading southward. The position 
of the latter is recognizable from the large unworked stone slab, 1.21 m. wide, which once 


Ficure 31. Room 30, Porrer’s SHop, FROM THE East 


served as its threshold. On the floor along the west wall, north of the door to room 1 3, Was 
found another great mass of pottery. The shape chiefly represented here was the cylix on 
a high stem: almost seventy specimens with painted decoration can be counted, and four or 
five times that number of unpainted examples, among the fragments recovered. In the 
angle of the room south of the door stood five huge unpainted craters, bottom upward, in 
two rows (Fig. 29). These latter, as appears on our plan, must have interfered seriously with 
communication through the doorway (Fig. 30). 

Room 30 has the shape of an extremely narrow magazine, being ca. 4.65 m. long and 
only 1.40 m. wide. It was entered from the east through a door some 0.90 m. wide, the stone 
threshold (0.90 m. x 0.40 m.) of which is still iz situ. The room had a well-made floor of hard 
whitish clay. Comparatively little pottery came to light here, the most interesting vase 
being a three-legged stand, perhaps intended to hold a cooking pot over a charcoal fire. 


ARCHITECTURE 35 


The striking feature of the room is a large open drain running eastward alongside the north 
wall (Fig. 31). It is made of U-shaped sections of terracotta pipe, four of which were found 
in place. These sections vary slightly in size, but average about 0.92 m. long. At the lower 
end they measure 0.24 m. across, at the upper 0.38 m., splaying out widely in order to 
take the lower end of the next section. The westernmost section is set slightly above the 
floor of the room, and from this point the drain slopes downward toward the east. It must 


Ficure 32. Room 33, Porrer’s SHop, rrom THE West, SHowInG Two Rows or CRATERS ALONG THE SourH WALL 


have passed under the east wall of the magazine, as several fragments were brought to 
light in room 31, but this part of its course has been demolished, apparently by large stones 
falling from above, and there was no evidence to show how the drain was carried out of the 
house. The purpose of so broad and capacious a drain in this narrow room is not clear; 
perhaps it carried off the water collected in the drain trap which was discovered at a higher 
level to the west of room 30 (see p. 38), or perhaps it brought the water needed in the 
potter’s workshop. 

Room 33 is 4.95 m. long and has a width of 2.45 m. Its inner end is set back ca. 0.65 m. 
west of the line of the west wall of rooms 13 and 30. This fact suggests that there may have 
been in the outer east wall of the building a jog or set-back similar to those so familiar in 
Mycenaean constructions elsewhere. In the east wall of the room immediately adjacent to 


36 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


the northeast corner is a doorway ca. 1.00 m. wide, which has a threshold made of two slabs 
of limestone laid side by side with a fairly wide joint at the centre of the opening. The walls 
of the chamber, which are well preserved (the west wall still stands to a height of 1.65 m.), 
were finished with a thick coat of rough plaster, some of which still remains in situ. The 
floor is of light clay. 

On the floor in the southern half of the room stood two parallel rows of large pots bottom 
upward, some almost intact, others crushed and shattered (Fig. 32). The northern row con- 


Ficure 33. Room 33, Porrer’s SHoPp, FROM THE East 
33 > 


tained ten vessels, the easternmost a sort of cylindrical jar, the rest craters; and there was 
probably an equal number in the southern row, which had, however, suffered greater dam- 
age. The great mass of fragments of similar vases lying upon and about these craters indi- 
cates that here too originally the pots were stacked one inside another in rouleaux, as in 
room 13. Upon them had been placed likewise a number of capacious basins and jugs, while 
the west end of the northern half of the magazine was piled high with similar vases. Cooking 


pots like those from room 13, were scattered about helter skelter, together with some smaller — 


vessels (Fig. 33). The east end of the northern half of the room, on the other hand, was 
almost free of pottery, probably because a passageway just inside the door had to be kept 
open to provide access to the store. 


ARCHITECTURE 37 


Room 34, parallel to 33 on the south, is again long and narrow, having a width of only 
1.75 m. It is divided into two parts by a large slab of limestone extending across the room. 
Apparently this is a threshold set at a level of two steps, ca. 0.50 m. higher than the south 
threshold slab in corridor 32. The west limit of the western part of the room was not clearly 
marked and apparently there was no levelled floor. The room was filled with large stones 
in a mass rising gradually westward. Along the south wall a drain made of cylindrical terra- 
cotta pipes, in part covered by stone slabs, descends from the higher level west of the room. 
In the eastern part of the room the terracotta drain is succeeded by a channel built of stones 
with small slabs laid across it as a cover. Accordingly it seems likely that a flight of steps 
once occupied this end of the building, by which one might ascend from the pottery maga- 
zines to the main floor above, and that the stairway could be closed by a door on a sort 
of landing. 

Such a stairway must have been needed, for it is certain that the rooms just described 
were merely basement or cellar storerooms and that the chief apartments of the building 
were on the upper floor. All the rooms were found filled with burnt débris; quantities of 
fragments of crude brick fused and hardened and stones partly calcined as the result of 
a conflagration, showed that the destruction of the house was due to fire and that a whole 
upper story had fallen in upon the rooms below. One brick came out almost intact; it is 
0.35 m. long, 0.22 m. thick, and 0.085 m. high. The abundance of fragments of similar bricks 
indicates clearly that the walls of the upper story were built of this material. Some of these 
fragments still preserved a fine coat of plaster on one side, from which fact it is evident that 
the walls of the chief apartments were carefully finished. In not a few cases this plaster bore 
traces of painted decoration, and among the fragments recovered, two different styles of 
fresco may be distinguished (Piare III). One shows a fairly fine coat of plaster, almost 
white in color, varying from 5 mm. to 13 mm. in thickness, with a smooth surface. On this 
are painted patterns in good colors: blue, two shades of red, yellow, white, and black. Blue 
is the commonest; yellow, red, and black seem to be subsidiary. Unfortunately the pieces 
are very small, and the patterns are not recognizable; one fragment looks as if it had blue 
spirals on a white ground, but the color scheme may have been just the reverse. A good 
example is shown in Pare III, Nos. 3-7. 

The second style exhibits a somewhat more porous plaster, gray in color and in almost 
every case damaged by fire, ranging from 4 mm. to 12mm. in thickness. Many of the pieces 
are still attached to fragments of crude brick from the walls of the building. Here the 
material is not so shattered and some simple patterns can be recognized. One shows broad 
vertical bands of large spirals bordered by transverse parallel lines (PLate III, No. 1). 
The spirals seem to be done in white with black outline, and the interspaces are filled with 
red. Another pattern shows large zigzags in thin red lines on a blue ground — reminiscent 
of the design on some of the square panels of the floor in the court of the Palace at Mycenae. 
iovare Il, No. 2). 

The fragments of the first style were found chiefly in the vicinity of the drain-trap men- 
tioned below, numbered 15 on the plan, that is, on the top of the hill. The examples of the 
second style came from the Potter’s Shop and had fallen down from the upper story. 

The floor of the upper story must have corresponded fairly closely in level with the 


38 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


surface of the hill itself farther westward, and here it is possible that the building extended 
considerably to the west beyond the lower story. Indeed it may have been constructed 
on successive steplike terraces similar in arrangement to those of the Palace at Mycenae. 
Owing to the ruinous condition of the foundation walls in this region its western exterior 
line could not, however, be definitely determined. Amidst the mass of stones some 2.50 m. 
west of room 30 a carefully made drain-trap was found and cleared (15 on the plan). It is 
a small pit of irregularly quadrangular shape, measuring roughly 0.80 m. on a side, but the 
opposite sides are not parallel. The sides of the pit are built of stones, which on the east and 
north are very large, covered with a coat of good waterproof plaster. The pit is 0.60 m. 
deep and has a well-made floor of similar plaster sloping downward from west to east. 
At the north corner a narrow channel leads into the box at the level of the floor and di- 
rectly opposite, at the south corner, a second channel provides an exit eastward. Perhaps 
this channel once emptied into the drain which runs through room 30; if so, the connecting 
section has been destroyed. The pit was filled with earth and débris, containing fragments 
of six figurines of terracotta, a steatite lentoid gem, many fresh-water mussel shells, and 
a slender bronze knife with remnants of an ivory handle (Fig. 190, No. 1). The drain-trap 
was probably in some way connected with, or formed part of the plumbing system of the 
house, but its exact function did not appear. 

The vast amount of pottery found in the storerooms of this house (representing many 
more than one thousand vases) leads one to conjecture that it was a potter’s establishment. 
The vases were all quite unused and some of those recovered intact looked, when cleaned, 
as fresh as though made yesterday. They seem to have been stored, as recorded above, in 
good order, distributed roughly by shape into three rooms. In view of their great number it 
is hardly likely that they were manufactured at any considerable distance from their place 
of storage. It is indeed quite possible that the workshop occupied the eastern rooms of this 
very building, which have unfortunately suffered almost complete destruction; and here 
too, perhaps, stood the kiln, though no traces of it at all were observed in the course of the 
excavations. 


CHAPTER III 


THE TOMBS 
A. THe SETTLEMENT 


EVEN graves were discovered within the settlement of Zygouries at various points 
on the hill. Three of these appeared to date from Byzantine times or later and require 
only passing mention here. They were simple earth burials in which, as the well- 
preserved bones showed, the body had been laid out at full length on its back with the head 
to the west and the arms folded across the breast. No objects were found in these graves, 


Ficure 34. Toms I, rrom THE WEST 


but in one case two iron heel-plates beneath the feet indicated that the deceased had been 
buried wearing heavy boots. 

The other four graves were probably all interments of the Middle Helladic Period and 
will be described in more detail. 


Toms I. Trench VI, in the central part of the mound, speedily revealed the usual maze of 
walls. Some of these, very close to the surface of the ground, appeared from the pottery 
found about them to be of Byzantine date, and in this section were two of the Byzantine 
graves. Other walls at slightly lower levels undoubtedly belonged to prehistoric buildings, 

39 


40 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


though no complete plan could be recovered. In part covered by the intersection of two 
walls (perhaps of mediaeval construction) and at a depth of ca. 1.00 m. below their top, a 
Middle Helladic tomb was found. Irregularly oval in shape, measuring ca. 1.75 m. by 1.10 
m, at its widest and narrowest points, it was surrounded by a ring of rather small stones laid 
in a single line (Fig. 34). Within this enclosure lay the skeleton in contracted position on 
its right side with the head to the north and facing west. The bones were fairly well pre- 
served, though the skull had been somewhat damaged and had sunk forward to the north- 
west. The arms were bent at the elbow so that the hands came before the breast or the face; 


Ficure 35. Toms IV 


the legs were doubled up in the usual contracted attitude. The left arm and left leg had been 
disturbed and projected upward at an angle. The head was long in proportion to its width, 
measuring ca. 0.19 m. from front to back and not quite 0.14 m. from side to side. The femur 
had a length of 0.39 m., the humerus 0.23 m. 

Around the neck were found nineteen beads of crystal and fifteen of paste, some of them 
still adhering together, though the cord which had once joined them into a necklace had 
naturally rotted away (Fig. 189). Among the crushed bones of the head, resting against the 
upper jaw, were discovered a small coil of bronze wire and two circlets of the same material, 
perhaps hair fasteners (Fig. 189). Just beside the skull and partly covered by it lay a small 
jug of Mattpainted ware (No. 95, Fig. 124); and extending beneath the leg-bones were the 
shattered fragments of a cup of similar ware (No. 94, Fig. 123). A whorl of terracotta (Fig. 
179, No. 1) and a fragmentary bone pin (Fig. 189) lay immediately west of the hands. 


Toms IV. In the eastern part of Trench V, at a depth of ca. 1.10 m., the grave of a small 
child came to light. It was a simple burial in soft earth almost in the angle formed by two 
walls belonging to an Early Helladic house; this grave pit had been dug down from above 


THE TOMBS 41 


at a later period, and at the point of its greatest depth it barely penetrated the Early Hel- 
ladic floor. The grave itself had been roughly paved with small stones of irregular sizes, 
the area thus paved being just large enough to receive the body. The child had been buried 
in the contracted position (Fig. 35), lying on its left side with the head to the north and 
facing east, but the torso had evidently been twisted forward under the weight of the super- 
incumbent earth. The right arm lay straight beside the body, the left was bent at the elbow 
and crossed beneath the waist. The skull was in a crumbly state and could not be ac- 
curately measured. The femur measured 0.20 m. in length, the humerus 0.145 m.; the child 
could hardly have been more than two or three years old. Many fragments of a large 


Ficure 36. Trav TrencHes on East Stops or AMBELAKIA Hitt, FROM THE SOUTH 


pithos were found at the foot of the skeleton; perhaps they had been used to cover the grave 
and had somehow slipped down or been thrust aside. Near the feet was found also a sherd 
of Argive Minyan ware — a fragment from the rim of a bowl. In the earth about the grave 
many other potsherds occurred, all of Early Helladic fabrics, but the fragment of Argive 
Minyan found in the grave itself must be taken as fixing the ferminus post quem for the 
date of the interment. There were no other objects in the tomb. Hardly more thano.so m., 
south of the grave and at the same level, though extending to a greater depth, was a large 
mass of animal bones, comprising, apparently, the major part of the skeletons of two goats. 
Their close juxtaposition certainly suggests that they bore a definite relation to the grave 
of the child — perhaps they are the remains of animals sacrificed at the time of the burial 
ceremony. 


Toms V. About 2.25 m. southeast of Tomb IV were found the scanty remains of another 
child burial. The grave is merely a small circular hole, ca. 0.50 m. in diameter, cut through 
the Early Helladic floor mentioned above. It was covered with several large fragments of 
a coarse pithos. The bones were those of a very small infant and were too soft and rotten 


42 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


to be cleared sufficiently for accurate measurement. Even the position of the body could 
not be determined with absolute certainty; it seemed to lie contracted on its right side 
with the head toward the east and the face turned to the north. There were no objects in 
the grave. Its level in relation to the floor indicated that it was later in date than the 
construction of the Early Helladic house, and it should no doubt be assigned to the Middle 
Helladic Period. 


Toms VI. In the floor of the court of the House of the Dagger, as already mentioned 
above (p. 26), was found a shallow oval depression, measuring ca. 0.40 m. by 0.70 m. and 
paved with fine pebbles. It contained a few small crumbling bones of a human skeleton, 
evidently the remains of an infant burial. The skull was not well enough preserved to be 
recognizable, and the evidence for the position of the body in the grave was very scanty; 
such as it was, it implied that the head lay pointing toward the south. No objects were found 
to make the date of the grave certain, but from its resemblance to other graves of infants 
it may with probability be attributed to the Middle Helladic Period. 


B. THE CEMETERY 


After numerous trial trenches had been dug in widening circles about the site, the ceme- 
tery of the settlement was finally discovered on the east slope of a hill which rises in the 
angle southeast of the intersection of the highroad and the line of the Peloponnesian Rail- 
way, some 500 m. west of Zygouries itself. This part of the ridge (Fig. 36), which ascends 
gradually southward toward Mt. Tretus, is now called Ambelakia, though no trace of the 
one-time vineyards 1s preserved today. It is a long, bare slope marked by only two or three 
stunted wild pear trees, and, owing to the scanty depth of poor soil covering its soft stereo, 
is not very productive. The thinness of the layer of earth, however, makes trial trenching 
very easy, and the graves with their shafts cut into the soft hardpan betray themselves 
almost immediately beneath the surface of the ground. The situation must have been — 
considered a highly suitable one for a cemetery, since all periods during which Zygouries 
was occupied are represented here by tombs; indeed in late Roman times, when the pre- 
historic site had long ceased to be inhabited and a new settlement had been established — 
perhaps clustering about the “ Palaiokastro” above the modern village of Hagios Vasilios — 
much farther away, the cemetery still continued to be used. 

Fifty-three tombs were discovered in the cemetery. Of these three certainly, and a 
fourth probably, date from the Early Helladic Period; two belong to the Middle Helladic 
Period; two are Mycenaean chamber tombs of Late Helladic III, and one seems to be a 
cutting for an unfinished tomb of the same type. Four yielded no evidence whatsoever of 
date; and the remaining forty must apparently be assigned to late Roman times. To this 
summary should be added Tomb XVIII, discovered in a railway cutting some distance to 
the north of Ambelakia, which contained two Geometric vases.! 

In the following description the tombs will be considered in their chronological order. 

1 Sieves were constantly employed during the excavations in the cemetery, and no earth from a grave was thrown away 


until it had passed a careful scrutiny. The experienced diggers who were entrusted with the clearing of the tombs were, how- 
ever, so keenly attentive that almost no objects reached the sieves. 


THE TOMBS 43 


Earty Hetuiapic Periop 


Toms VII. Tomb VII was perhaps disturbed and, at any rate, rendered more complex 
for the excavator by the fact that in some later period a second grave was constructed 
directly over the first. Fortunately, however, the second grave was a comparatively shallow 
pit, which did not quite reach the floor level of the first; and the general arrangement of this 
latter is therefore clear enough in the main. 

The upper grave was very simple, consisting of a pit 1.25 m. long from north to south 
by 0.40 m. wide, cut in earth to a depth of ca. 0.50 m., and covered by a single large roughly 
worked rectangular slab of poros. The slab, which was cracked diagonally into two pieces, 
was 1.40 m. long by .o85 m. wide and had a thickness of ca. 0.20 m. It ran almost due north 
and south, lying some 0.40 m. below the surface of the ground. The side of the pit was rein- 
forced by small stones at the north and south ends of the grave and for a short distance on 


Ficure 37. SKELETON IN Upper Layer or Toms VII 


the east; elsewhere it was formed of earth, none too firm. On the west side a long piece of 
poros at the top edge of the pit provided a bearing for the cover slab. 

The grave contained a fairly well-preserved skeleton (Fig. 37), which lay in a con- 
tracted position with the head to the south in the extreme southeast corner of the pit. 
The head rested on its right side with its face toward the east; perhaps it had fallen over 
into this position, for the body lay apparently squarely on its back. The legs were doubled 
up, the knees reaching almost to the chest; the left arm, bent at the elbow, was laid across 
the breast, meeting the right arm, which was bent back in the same way. The left hand 


lay over the right hand and wrist. 
The skull from front to back at the level of the eyebrows measured 0.20 m.; from the 


44 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


point of the chin to the top of the head 0.20 m.; from the back of the neck to the forehead 
0.16 m. The left humerus had a length of 0.25 m.; the radius 0.30 m. The right femur 
was 0.37 m. long; the tibia (not quite complete) 0.32 m. 


Ficure 38. Pian or Toms VII 


On the little finger (or the next) of the left hand was a ring —a plain thin band of 
bronze. There were no other objects in the grave. The north end of the pit for a space of 


0.35 m. was empty and had apparently not been utilized; the contracted position was not 
necessitated by lack of space in the tomb. 


THE TOMBS 45 


Evidence to establish with certainty the date of the grave was not forthcoming; the only 
object found in it, the ring, is indeterminate. The contracted position of the body is that 
customary in prehistoric graves, especially of the Middle Helladic Period; but the large 
rectangular cover slab of poros is an unusual feature. The possibility of Early Helladic date 
is not absolutely precluded. However that may be, it is sure at any rate that the tomb 
belongs to the same series with Nos. IX, X, and XV, to be described below. 

The Early Helladic tomb, concerning the date of which there can be no question, lay 
only some 0.10 m, to 0.20 m. beneath the grave just described. It is a fairly large cavity, 


Ficure 39. NortH Enp or Toms VII, rrom THE SoutTH 


- roughly oval in shape, measuring ca. 2.60 m. north and south by 1.85 m. east and west, and 
is cut into soft stereo to an average depth of 1.25 m. below the surface of the ground. Whether 
the opening at the surface was originally of the same size as the area below cannot now be 
determined. In this spacious grave chamber were found the remains certainly of twelve, 
possibly of thirteen or fourteen, skeletons. None of them lay in order; the bones were 
scattered helter skelter, skulls, arm-bones, femurs, vertebrae, all mingled together in ut- 
most confusion (Fig. 38). A certain suggestion of arrangement which appeared in this 
disorder, in that all the bones were more or less grouped in a zone following the oval side of 
the grave while the central space was vacant, may have been more apparent than real, 
since the area at the centre may have been disturbed, and perhaps even cleared of remains, 
at the time the later interment was made only a few centimetres higher in level. If this latter 
was indeed Early Helladic, it was certainly the latest in the series of Early Helladic burials. 

The bones were in an advanced state of decomposition (Fig. 39), and many of them 
crumbled when touched. The task of clearing them from the sticky, clayey earth clinging 
to them was not easy, demanding much patience and care, and it was not often possible to 


46 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


obtain accurate measurements. Twelve skulls were recognized (the numbers are those of 
the plan, Figure 38): 

1. This was represented only by a jaw bone together with a few teeth in the western part 
of the grave. It was near this point that a gold ornament, perhaps an earring, came to light. 

3. Comparatively well preserved, this lay in the southeast part of the grave, on its left 
side, facing south, with the top of the crown toward the east. It measured 0.17 m. from front 
to back and ca. 0.133 m. from side to side. Just beside it on the west was apparently a pelvis. 

4. A very rotten skull in the extreme southeast angle of the grave was recognizable as 
such only by the fact that teeth were found about it. 

5. This lay against the side wall not far to the northeast of No. 4, almost in an upright 
position, facing northwest. Most of the forehead had been broken away, and no satisfactory 
measurements could be taken. 

6. A rather badly decayed and incomplete skull lay in the northeast part of the grave, 
bottom upward. A few small teeth were found about. The skull measured ca. 0.18 m. from 
front to back. 

_ 8. Close beside No. 6 to the east was another, much of the right side of which had rotted 
away. It lay face down, and measured 0.19 m. from front to back. 

g. North of the central part of the grave was found a thin decomposed shell of bone, 
identified by a clearly marked suture as part of a skull. No measurements were possible. 

10. Near the northwest corner of the grave, this lay on its left side facing west, with the 
crown toward the south. From front to back it measured ca. 0.16. m. 

11. Closely adjoining No. Io to the north was uncovered another skull, lying also on its 
left side, facing west; it likewise gave a measurement from front to back of 0.16 m. In the 
place where the jaws should have been only one tooth was found, and near at hand was a 
fragment of a thin, rotten substance resembling metal, perhaps silver. 

13. This came to light near the middle of the east side of the grave, resting upside down 
on its crown with the face toward the east. Only the upper half of the skull was preserved; 
from front to back it measured ca. 0.18 m. 

14. No. 14, in the northeast part of the grave, lay on its right side facing down and west- 
ward with its crown pointing toward the north. Only the upper part of the skull was at all 
well preserved, but around it and in the earth filling it were many teeth. The measurement 
from front to back was 0.175 m. 

16. At the extreme north of the grave lay the twelfth cranium on its right side facing 
northwest. The lower part was badly decomposed, but the top of the skull was in fairly good 
condition, allowing measurements to be taken: front to back, 0.165 m., side to side, ca. 
O13 ea, 

In view of the extremely fragile and rotten condition of the bones it is not unlikely that 
there were originally more than the twelve skulls listed above. Teeth were scattered about 
everywhere, and some of the crumbling remains that we took for pelvic bones may well 
have been the remnants of other crania. The numerous arm-bones and leg-bones were too 
fragmentary and incomplete for proper measurement. All that can be said is that, so far 
as appeared, the bones were all those of adults. If children had also been buried in the tomb 
their remains had entirely vanished or become unrecognizable. 


THE TOMBS 47 


The objects found in Tomb VII, in proportion to the number of persons interred, were 
very scanty, as may be seen from the following list. The numbers preceding the objects are 
those by which the latter are marked on the plan, Figure 38. 


1. One gold ornament with attached spiral of silver wire (Pl. XX, No. 7). 
21. Small thin fragment of silver. 
7. One tiny flat silver disk (Fig. 176). 
21. One bronze pin, fragmentary. 
18 and 20. Two cylindrical beads of carnelian (Pl. XX, Nos. 2, 4). 
One cylindrical bead of soft green stone (PI. XX, No. 6). 
17. One small amulet of stone in the shape of a foot (PI. XX, No. 3). 
2. One delicate blade of obsidian (PI. XX, No. 5). 
One sea shell, : 


The greater part of four vases: a sauceboat (15), a shallow bowl (12), an unpainted jar (Fig. 95), 
and a curious diminutive vessel shaped like the bowl of a pipe (Pl. XX, No. 1). 
There were also a few potsherds, including several fragments of a small pyxis. 


Ficure 40. Toms XVI From ABOVE 


Toms XVI. Rather more than 20 m. down the slope southeastward from Tomb VII 
another Early Helladic grave was brought to light. Roughly rectangular at its northern end, 
and with corners rounded off at the south, it measured ca. 1.33 m. in length from north 
to south and 1.05 m. in width. The floor of the grave was 1.30 m. below the surface of the 
ground, the shaft being cut in the usual way through soft stereo. On this floor were found the 
remains of three skeletons; as was the case in Tomb VII, they lay not in their proper se- 
quence, but indiscriminately heaped together in a mass occupying somewhat more than the 
western half of the grave, while the eastern side was bare of remains (Fig. 40). The bones 
were in a wretched state of preservation, but three skulls were clearly recognizable (Fig. 
41). The numbers are those indicated on the plan. 


48 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


1. One lay in the northwest part of the grave, probably resting on its crown, bottom 
upward; it was badly decomposed and could not be measured. 

2. The second, near the centre of the grave, lay partly on its left side, partly on its 
crown, with its face turned toward the south. From front to back it gave a measurement 
of 0.18 m. Beneath the head was found a slender bronze pin (4), broken at one end. 


N 


Ficure 41. Pian or Toms XVI 


3. Not far to the southwest of No. 2 a third skull came to light, lying on its left side, 
facing northwest with its crown pointing southwest. The measurement from front to back 
was 0.175 m. 

In the northeastern part of the grave were found three large potsherds (5, 6, 7), which, 
together with the bronze pin mentioned above, constitute apparently the whole of the 
funerary offerings. 


Toms XX. Some 35 m. south and slightly east of Tomb XVI a third grave of the 
Early Helladic Period was discovered. It is a roughly oval chamber hewn out of soft stereo, 
and measures at its widest points 1.96 m. in length from east to west by 1.78 m. in width. 
It is a very shallow grave, the floor varying in depth from 0.70 m. to 1.00 m. below the slop- 


THE TOMBS | 49 


ing level of the hillside. The opening at the surface is much smaller in area than the floor, 
the dimensions of which have been given above, since rather more than one-third of the 
grave on the south side is covered by an overhanging ledge of soft rock or stereo. It looks 
in fact as if a small natural cavity in the hillside had been hollowed out and enlarged in 
order to be utilized as a tomb (Fig. 42). 

In this relatively narrow space were revealed the remains of no fewer than fifteen skele- 
tons, perhaps more, all heaped together in utter confusion, skulls, leg-bones, arm-bones, ribs, 
vertebrae, lying over, about, and beneath one another as if unceremoniously emptied into 
a rubbish heap, the same manner of disposition that we have already seen in Tombs VII 


Ficure 42. Toms XX, From THE East 


and XVI. In the present instance the great mass of bones lay in the southern half of the 
chamber, while the northern half was almost empty, save for a large stone which may ac- 
cidentally have fallen into the grave. The remains were thus chiefly concentrated under 
the overhanging ledge of rock, and this may well be what had protected them from further 
disturbance. If the northern half had also once been similarly filled with relics, the lack of 
the protection afforded by the ledge might perhaps account for their disappearance. 
Since all these bones were so closely packed and jumbled together, it was by no means easy 
to clear and disentangle them so that their position could be seen; and to transfer this to 
paper was an even more difficult undertaking. But Mr. Heurtley’s patient efforts were fully 
equal to the task, as a glance at the accompanying plans will show. In order to represent 
all of the skulls and larger bones, those that lay at the top of the mass and those beneath, 
it was necessary to draw the plan in two levels; but it should be borne in mind that there 
was no stratification in the tomb: the whole mass was a unit, the remains are all of the same 
period (Fig. 43 a and b). 

The bones were generally in a miserable state of decay; usually they lay in a position 


THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Ficure 43b. Pian or Toma XX, Lower Lever 


Ficure 43a. Pian or Toms XX, Upper Lever 


THE TOMBS 51 


in which it was extremely awkward to measure them, and they could seldom be moved 
without damage. It was possible to recognize fifteen skulls, which are recorded below in 
their order of numbering on the plan. 

1. Only the upper part of this skull was preserved. It lay close against the south wall of 
the grave, on its right side, facing eastward, with its crown to the south and upward. From 
front to back it measured ca. 0.19 m. 

2. Immediately adjoining No. 1 on the west was a very crumbly rotten skull, apparently 
resting on its crown upside down. No measurements were possible. 

3. This lay toward the western part of the grave, on its right side, facing eastward. The 
measurement from front to back was 0.18 m. 

4. Only o.10 m. south of No. 3 was another in very bad condition; it seemed to face 
directly upward with its crown toward the east. 

5. This skull was found almost exactly underneath No. 3, and is therefore shown on the 
plan of the lower level. It lay on its left side, facing northwest, and measured 0.165 m. from 
front to back. Over the right side of the forehead was found a small fragment of a thin 
fragile sheet of silver, possibly the remnant of a diadem, resembling the Cycladic examples 
discovered by Tsountas (infra p. 181). Just beneath the jaws, of which almost nothing but 
a few teeth survived, a small cylindrical bead of carnelian came to light. A gold ornament, 
probably an earring, was found beneath the skull (No. 18 on the plan), and projecting from 
below on the east side was a long silver pin with a double spiraliform head (No. 1g on the 
plan). A diminutive patera of Early Helladic ware was uncovered a short distance south of 
the skull (No. 21 on the plan), and a little farther away a spatula of bronze appeared (No. 
20 on the plan). 

6. Skull No. 6, near the east end of the grave, stood almost upright, looking toward the 

west, though most of the face had disappeared. From front to back it measured 0.17 m.; 
from side to side, ca. 0.14 m. Beneath it was found a small flat piece of silver similar to that 
mentioned above. 

7. No. 7, in the southeast part of the grave, was turned bottom up, resting on its 
crown with the face toward the northwest; it had a length of 0.17 m. 

8. This lay at the extreme southwest side of the tomb in such wretched state that the 
exact position could not be determined. 

g. Skull No. g, near the east edge of the grave, not far from No. 7, was also in ruinous 
condition; it seemed to be lying on its right side, facing east, but was not complete enough 
to be measured. 

10. This skull lay close against the southeast side of the tomb; it was not well enough 
preserved to allow its position to be made out with certainty. 

11. Next to No. 10 on the northeast was a very thick skull, facing upward with its crown 
toward the southwest. Its measurement from front to back was 0.16 m., from side to side 
CaO; 1h. 

12. Adjacent to No. ro on the southwest, and leaning against the wall of the tomb, was 
another fragile rotten skull in an unrecognizable position. 

13 and 14. Skull No. 13, immediately west of No. 12, was very fragmentary; on its west 
side it partly overlapped No. 14, which was in an equally incomplete state. 


§2 


FLOOR BELOW 
FLOOR BELOW 


-19 ABOVE FLOOR 


a - 


LINE OF OVERHANGING ROcnK- 


ABOVE FLOOR 


RooF - AVERAGE .80 
GROUND ~ * “1.50° 


Ficure 44. Pan or Toms 


THE TOMBS 53 


15. Almost underneath No. 10 in the southeast corner of the chamber, was a portion 

of a rather small skull, barely recognizable as such. 

The bones of arms and legs were so badly broken and incomplete that no accurate meas- 
urements were possible; all that were preserved, however, seemed to be those of adults. 

In the northern half of the grave at the east end, where there were practically no bones, 
two crude intact vases of typically Early Helladic fabric were found (Nos. 16 and 17 on 
the plan). The full list of the objects recovered from Tomb XX is as follows: 

One gold ornament, probably an earring (Pl. XX, No. 11). 

Two fragments of thin silver, perhaps from a diadem. 

One silver pin (PI. XX, No. 9). 

One small spatula of bronze (Pl. XX, No. ro). 

One bronze pin (Pl. XX, No. 8). 

One cylindrical bead of carnelian (Pl. XX, No. 12). 

One bead of steatite (Pl. XX, No. 13). 

One whorl or button of bone (Fig. 181, No. 3). 

Three vases of unpainted ware (Fig. 96), a crudely made jar, a shallow bowl, and a small patera. 
There were also a few potsherds, all of Early Helladic date. 


Toms XXIII. About 6 m. directly south of Tomb XX an irregular cutting in stereo 
was observed and investigated. It had a width of ca. 0.80 m. from north to south and a 
length of 1.50 m., and its bottom or floor was reached at a depth of 1.50 m. below the surface 
of the ground. On each long side was found a pair of tiles standing on edge on the floor and 
leaning against the vertical scarp, sheltering a narrow grave hollowed out at the base of the 
side walls — the arrangement familiar from so many other Roman tile-graves in the ceme- 
tery (see p. 70). But the presence of a good many Early Helladic sherds in the earth filling 
the shaft led to further investigation which resulted in the discovery that at the west end 
of the shaft, just beyond the end of the southern tile-grave, an opening led southward into 
a small natural cave under an overhanging ledge of conglomerate. This opening had ap- 
parently once been closed by a rough wall of stones, chiefly fragments of poros, some of 
which had fallen away or been removed, perhaps at the time of the Roman burial. 

The cave (Fig. 44) was approximately circular, possibly having been enlarged or rounded 
off by human agency; it had a diameter of ca. 2.50 m. from north to south, and some 0.10 
m. less from east to west; and a height from floor to roof of ca. 0.70 m. Most of this space 
was filled with earth which, when removed, produced not a few Early Helladic potsherds. 
In the western part of the chamber, near the entrance, a considerable portion of one large 
bone, probably a femur, was found, together with a few decayed fragments of smaller bones. 
Toward the inner end of the chamber, against its west wall, a large piece of a coarse pot 
came to light. These were the only objects in the chamber except for two flat stones near 
the centre. Just outside the entrance, among the Early Helladic potsherds in the shaft, 
a fragment of a curious flat ornament of bronze was recovered. 

Although the objects obtained from Tomb XXIII are sadly meagre and the evidence at 
best unsatisfactory, it is probably safe to recognize here an Early Helladic grave which was 
disturbed and emptied in the period of the late Roman burials in the shaft. Robbery could 
hardly have been the motive in view of the extreme poverty of these Early Helladic tombs; 
more probably the object was merely to prepare the shaft for the tile-graves. Indeed it 


54 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


may not be too bold to see in No. XXIII, though empty, the best representative of this 
peculiar type of Early Helladic tomb, three complete examples of which (Nos. VII, XVI, 
and XX) have been described on the foregoing pages. Strictly speaking they are ossuaries, 
not graves. And these rude cave-ossuaries, exemplified especially by No. XXIII, but also 
by No. XX, may well be the survivors of a very simple primitive form of sepulture, a small 
natural hollow, protected by an overhanging ledge of rock, being utilized as a place of 
burial in which the dead could be deposited from time to time until the space was filled. 
Such tombs as VII and XVI might, then, represent a later development when, no more 
natural cavities being available, a purely artificial hollow in the ground had to be dug to 
contain the bones which tradition perhaps still demanded should be preserved in an ossuary.? 

So far as I know, these ossuaries are the first of their kind to come to light on the main- 
land of Greece. Indeed, except for a single tomb, excavated at Corinth in 1896 (Heermance 
and Lord, American Fournal of Archaeology, 1, 1897, pp. 313 ff.), Early Helladic burials 
have until the present time remained an unknown quantity. The Corinthian grave, with 
its two chambers opening laterally from the bottom of a well-cut rectangular shaft, is quite 
different from the type now exemplified at Zygouries, which seems to belong to a far more 
primitive stage. The nearest analogy to the Corinthian type is to be found in the single- 
chambered tombs discovered by the late Dr. Papabasileiou near Chalcis in Euboea 
(IlamraBactneiov: Iepi rav év EvBolg’Apyaiwv Tador, pp. 1 ft.); but for the bone-filled ledge- 
caves of Ambelakia no good analogies seem available in the Aegean sphere, except possibly 
in Crete (p. Die}. 

It is barely possible that the numerous rectangular shafts found everywhere about the 
hill were made originally for Early Helladic graves, not radically different from the con- 
temporary cist graves in the Cyclades; and that they were thoroughly cleaned out in 
Roman times in order to be used again for burials protected by leaning tiles. One might 
indeed wonder if it was not at this period that the bones were collected and deposited in the 
ossuaries in the disordered heaps in which we found them. Several considerations, how- 
ever, make this theory improbable in the extreme. In the first place, the bones themselves 
after some 2500 years in the tombs would have required careful excavation to be removed 
even in the condition in which we found them; the skeletons in the Roman graves, after 
less than 1600 years under the same conditions, have almost totally disappeared. The preser- 
vation of the remains in the ossuaries must be due mainly to the protection supplied by the 
overhanging ledge. In the second place, if the bones had been transferred in Roman times, 
all objects of gold, silver, and bronze would surely have been appropriated, even the 
smallest, and none would have been deposited in the ossuaries. And, finally, there are 
the three intact vases from Tomb XX, and the four almost complete from VII, which it 
is utterly unlikely that grave-diggers of the fourth century A.D. would have respected and 
moved along with the bones. The ossuaries must therefore be regarded as purely Early 
Helladic phenomena.? 

The extreme poverty of these burials, as appears from the meagre list of objects found, 


' In view of the extremely soft nature of the sfereo on the hill of Ambelakia, it is not impossible that both VII and 
XVI were originally partially covered by ledges which have since crumbled away. 
* The excavations at the Argive Heraeum in 1925 brought to light the scanty remains of a similar Early Helladic ossuary. 


THE TOMBS 5s 


was disappointing; it is to be hoped that future excavations will some day reveal much 
richer graves of the period. The presence of gold, the most noteworthy feature, in these 
tombs, which are doubtless those of persons of humble standing, gives some intimation 
of what we may expect when the grave of a chieftain is found. 


Mippte HeEttapic Pertop 


Toms XXII. About 5 m. directly west of Tomb XX a grave of a different type was 
discovered. It appears to have been a simple interment in soft earth with no built sides and 
no cutting in stereo. The shape and size of the pit or cist could therefore not be determined, 
but the area occupied by the remains measured approximately 1 m. in width from north 


Zl 


Ne WYQAGW 


MY 


Ficure 45. Section THroucH Toms XXII, Looxine Soutu 


to south by 1.50 m. in length from east to west, and the depth from the surface of the 
ground to stereo, on which the lowest interment rested, was ca. I m. 

In this grave three layers of remains could be clearly distinguished, as appears in the 
section (Fig. 45). The uppermost was found at a depth of 0.40 m. to 0.50 m. below ground, 
or at 0.60 m. to 0.50 m. above stereo; the second at 0.50 m. to 0.25 m. above stereo, and the 
lowest or earliest from 0.20 m. above stereo to stereo itself. 

The uppermost layer contained only a few bones — one recognizable as part of a femur 
— but no perfectly certain traces of a skull. There were no other objects here. 

The middle layer (Fig. 46 a) included two fairly large, but incomplete, leg-bones, two 
clusters of thin decayed fragments, probably skulls, a number of smaller bits of bone, and 
two jugs of Mattpainted ware. The position of the body or bodies could not be made out. 

The bottom layer (Fig. 46 b), lying on stereo, yielded remains which, although in an 
extremely wretched state of preservation, nevertheless gave sufficient evidence for the 
arrangement of the grave. Two bodies had been buried here, side by side, facing each other, 
each with its head toward the west. Both were in a more or less contracted position, with 
the femurs bent approximately at right angles to the body and with the lower legs also 
bent back so that the feet reached almost to the line of the body. In each case only one arm 
was preserved; it was bent sharply at the elbow so that the hand lay before the face. The 
southern skeleton was much the larger: the femurs, though not completely preserved, had 


56 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


a length of 0.35 m.; a tibia, just over 0.30 m.; and the humerus, 0.30 m. The skull was badly 
crushed, but most of the teeth were preserved. This skeleton lay on its left side, facing north. 
Just above the right shoulder was a small cup with a basket handle, a good example of 
Mattpainted ware. 


Ficure 46b. Pian or Toms XXII, Lowest Layer 


The northern skeleton was small and its bones in a very crumbly state. The femurs were 
incomplete, the longer fragment measuring only 0.18 m.; a fibula had a length of 0.27 m.; 
while the bones of the arm were too fragmentary for a satisfactory measurement. Only the 
scantiest traces of the skull could be observed. This body had been laid on its right side, 
facing south. 

It is evident that an adult and a child had been buried together in the grave, and almost 
surely at the same time. Other instances of a double burial in one tomb have been observed 
elsewhere; reference may be made to Grave No. VII at Gonia (not yet published). In the 
latter case, however, the two skeletons, male and female, were of adults, and each lay on its 


THE TOMBS 57 


left side. The position in the grave at Ambelakia, where the two bodies were placed facing 
each other, is interesting to note. 


Late HeEttapic Pertop 


Toms XXXIII. Less than 30 m. northeast of Tomb XX and somewhat lower down the 
slope of the hill, a Mycenaean chamber tomb of the Third Late Helladic Period was dis- 
covered (Plan, Fig. 48), The dromos (Fig. 49), running approximately east and west, and 
cut in soft stereo, has a length of 6.55 m.; at its east end it is 0.87 m. wide, increasing toward 
the west to 1.01 m. at the door. The sides of the dromos taper slightly; above the door, at 
a height of 2.35 m. from the floor, the opening is 0.73 m. wide, and the tapering thus amounts 
to 0.14 m. on each side. The floor of the dromos slopes downward. 


Ficure 47. Bones 1n Lowest Layer or Toms XXII, rrom ABOovE 


The doorway, slightly rounded at the top, is 1.14 m. high; it also tapers from bottom to 
top, having a width on the floor of 0.64 m., and at the lintel 0.48 m. The inner end wall of 
the dromos, through which this opening passes, is vertical; the doorway is centred in it, 
with a plain band, or “jamb” ca. 0.19 m. wide on either side. The entrance has a depth of 
1.20 m.; its axis varies from that of the dromos, making an angle of 7° toward the south, 
and agreeing with the orientation of the chamber. 

The doorway was closed by a well-built wall, for the most part made of flat stones of 
poros. This wall was constructed in two distinct sections, the dividing line of which may 
be seen running down the middle of the doorway (Fig. s0). The right hand (northern) 
section, carefully laid with fairly regular stones, was evidently built first and the southern 
section then filled in with rougher material. The wall continued inward beyond these facing- 
stones, being very thick and substantial; it had clearly never been opened since it was built. 


MoE 


a asa © 
pee os 


H 
| | “ee 
' © * 
' as | 
, 
' 
@ i 


Ficure 48. Pian or Toms XXXII 


he 


THE TOMBS 59 


The chamber of the tomb, hewn in stereo, had collapsed, and it was necessary to excavate 
it by means of a pit opened from above. When cleared, it proved to be roughly rectangular 
in shape, though the corners were rounded off and the sides were not quite straight, nor 
quite parallel. From north to south the greatest dimension was 3.39 m., from east to west 


2.07 m. 


Ficure 49. Dromos or Toms XXXIII Ficure 50. Door or Toma XXXIII 


In the northeast corner of the chamber was found a rudely constructed cist-grave, built 
of irregular unworked stones and fragments of Greek tiles, with a number of narrow flat 
slabs of poros and a fragment of a huge pithos as a cover. The bottom of this grave was ca. 
1 m. above the floor of the tomb, but many stones from it had apparently fallen down into 
the chamber where they rested, some as low as ca. 0.50 m. above the floor. The exact or 
even approximate date of this later cist-grave could not be determined, as no objects were 
found in it, and indeed only the scantiest traces of decayed bones were discernible. At any 
rate, it is clear that the grave dates from before the collapse of the chamber, having been 
dug from above, for fallen stones from the grave lay just above the floor on a thick layer 
of hard stereo, which had certainly originally formed part of the roof of the chamber. 

As a result of the collapse of the roof, many of the objects in the tomb had been crushed 


Ficure $1. Pran or Toms XXXV 


* 


THE TOMBS 61 


and broken. The bones had almost completely disappeared, and the few fragments that 
survived were so fragile that they could hardly be touched. The scanty nature of the 
evidence in this respect did not permit the determination of the position of the body, 
nor was it possible to determine how many persons were buried in the tomb, if more 
than one. 

In the southern part of the chamber a soft spot appeared in the floor; investigation here 
revealed a depression, roughly rectangular in shape, measuring ca. 0.80 m. from east to 
west by 0.55 m. from north to south, and ca. 0.25 m. in depth. It resembled a small cist, 
but contained nothing more than two potsherds. 

The following objects were found in the tomb, the number in each case being that by 
which the object is indicated on the plan (Fig. 48): 


. Large unpainted jug (No. 355, Fig. 165). 

. Squat stirrup vase (No. 356, Fig. 161). 

. Lentoid seal of steatite (Fig. 197). 

. Bead of steatite (Fig. 197). 

. Figurine of terracotta (No. 358, Fig. 192). 

. Whorl or button of steatite (Fig. 197). 

. Small jug (No. 353, Fig. 163). 

. Small stirrup vase (No. 357, Fig. 161). 

. Pot with basket handle (No. 351, Fig. 162). 

. Figurine of terracotta (No. 359, Fig. 192). 

. Figurine of terracotta (No. 360, Fig. 192). 

. Unpainted jug with two handles (No. 349, Fig. 166). 
. Whorl or button of steatite (Fig. 197). 

. Small jug with one handle (No. 354, Fig. 163). 
. Whorl or button of steatite (Fig. 197). 

. Tall painted jug (No. 350, Fig. 166). 

. Broad unpainted jug (No. 348, Fig. 165). 

. Low jug with one handle (No. 352, Fig. 164). 
. Jug similar to No. 18 (No. 361, Fig. 164). 

. Small stirrup vase (No. 362, Fig. 162). 


RS Se Se Re Se Se Se OS OS oe 
OM CONT DANABDW NH OW ONI ANBW HD + 


Toms XXXYV. Five metres directly north of No. XX XIII the same trial trench revealed 
a second Mycenaean chamber tomb, like the first cut in soft stereo or hardpan (Plan, Fig. 51). 
The dromos (Fig. 52) had a length of 8 m. from east to west, descending ca. 1.05 m. in this 
distance. It is 0.85 m. wide at its outer end and broadens to 1.05 m. on stereo at the door, 
where the floor is 2.90 m. below the surface of the ground. The sides of the dromos taper 
more sharply than was the case in Tomb X XXIII, and the opening above the inner end 1s 
very narrow, though the sides do not actually meet in a sharp point. The sides of the 
dromos are rather carefully and smoothly cut, but do not form a right angle when they 
meet the end wall, as the corners are rounded off. The end wall is less carefully worked 
than the side walls. 

In the middle of the northern side wall, at a height of ca. 1.10 m. above the floor, a small 
slab of poros, 0.26 m. high by 0.38 m. long, covered the opening into a recess or cavity which 
ran back 0.35 m. into stereo. It contained soft loose earth in which no objects were found. 
Similar recesses have been observed in the dromoiz of Mycenaean tombs elsewhere and seem 
to have been used as cists to contain bones removed from the chamber, or indeed for primary 


62 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


burials. In the present instance the cavity may have been prepared for such a purpose, 
but seems never to have been utilized. 

Along the sides of the dromos two graves came to light, one on the north and one on the 
south, each a simple shaft of a type common in this cemetery. Apart from a little dark and 


Figure 52. Dromos or Toms XXXV Ficure $3. Door or Toms XXXV 


mouldy earth no remains whatsoever were found in them, and the evidence was unfortu- 
nately not decisive as to whether or not these shafts antedated the cutting of the dromos. ~ 
They were probably earlier in construction, though they seem to have been cleared out and 
used again in Roman times. 

On the floor of the dromos, just outside the door, lay a few fragments of at least two un- 
painted cylixes like those of type ¢ from the potter’s shop (p. 153). 

The doorway was not so well cut as that in Tomb XXXIII. Irregularly triangular in 


THE TOMBS 63 


shape, from a width of ca. 0.80 m. at the floor it came almost to a point at 1.60 m. above 
stereo. Hardpan at this point was rather soft and when the doorway was cleared, it was 
found that a heavy block of poros, 0.35 m. thick, had been set in as additional support, form- 
ing a sort of lintel. The doorway was unusually deep in proportion to the size of the tomb, 
measuring no less than 1.71 m. from the dromos to the chamber. The door was walled up 
with unshaped stones of poros of no great size (Fig. 53) and the wall was not so thick as that 
blocking the entrance of Tomb XXXIII. But a number of fairly large stones, lying in the 
passage inside and extending into the chamber, may perhaps have fallen from the inner 
face of the wall. 


ae 


Ficure $4. Bones anp Vases UNCOVERED IN CHAMBER, TomB XXXV 


Just inside the door-wall on the north side of the entrance passage, at a height of 1.05 m. 
above the floor, were found three vases, one complete and the others fragmentary: a large 
jug, a small jug, and a cup. They seem to be of Roman date and are no doubt funeral 
offerings from a late grave which had perhaps been carried down to this curious place of 
finding at the time of the collapse of Tomb XXXYV. A Roman tile-grave did in fact lie 
directly above the chamber of the Mycenaean tomb, as we discovered when we were obliged 
to sink a large pit from the surface of the ground in order to clear out the fallen débris from 
the chamber. Only the tiles were found in place; there was no trace of bones or other objects. 
One may therefore with very fair probability assign the three Roman pots from the entrance 
passage of our tomb to this tile-grave above the chamber. Some bones, presumably from 
this same grave, appeared among the chunks of fallen stereo in the chamber. 

The chamber was approximately rectangular, though the two south corners were 
rounded and there was a curious bulge near the south end of both the east and west walls. 
The dimensions of the chamber were ca. 2.82 m. from north to south by 2.20 m. from east 


64 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


to west. The entrance is not symmetrically placed, but lies slightly north of the axis of the 
room. 

The chamber, as already mentioned, was filled with earth and débris which had fallen 
from above, and a certain stratification was visible in this fill. From the level of the floor, 
cut in hardpan, to a height of ca. 0.75 m. was a layer of fairly loose brownish soil; above 
this lay a stratum, some 0.80 m. thick, of hard whitish clay, obviously the dissolved ma- 
terial of the roof of the chamber. The bones and all the objects in the tomb were found 
lying on and just beneath the top of the layer of brownish soil, well above the floor of the 
chamber; no remains came to light on or near the floor itself. This seems a rather peculiar 
phenomenon, for which no satisfactory explanation appeared. Apparently the tomb was 
not used immediately upon its completion, but some time must have elapsed sufficient to 
permit the accumulation of the layer of brown soil. 

As in Tomb XXXIII, bones were extremely scanty, but not quite in the same state 
of utter dissolution. In the north part of the chamber one skull came to light, and ca. 0.50 m. 
east of it three fragments of large bones, no doubt from the legs. Nearer to the skull were 
two smaller bones, one to the south and the other to the north, perhaps from the arms; and 
this meagre evidence suggests that a body had been placed in this northern part of the 
chamber, lying on its back with the head to the west, the feet toward the east, and the arms 
at the sides. The skull, only the upper part of which was preserved, measured 0.18 m. from 
front to back. In the southwestern part of the chamber, ca. 1.60 m. distant from the skull, 
a portion of a set of teeth was uncovered; about it and 0.40 m. farther east were a few badly 
decomposed fragments of bone. It is likely that these remains are those of a second skeleton, 
but any suggestion as to the position in which it lay would be pure speculation. A bull’s 
head of terracotta, two small stirrup vases, and a squat bowl were found in this part of 
the chamber; all the other objects were from the north end of the tomb (Fig. 54). 

The following list comprises all the objects recovered, each one being given under the 
number by which it is indicated on the plan (Fig. 51): 

. Large unpainted jug (No. 326, Fig. 170). 

. Small vase with side spout (No. 347, Fig. 167). 

. Jug with three handles (No. 327, Fig. 170). 

. Figurine of terracotta (No. 335, Fig. 193). 

. Figurine of terracotta (No. 336, Fig. 193). 

. Figurine of terracotta (No. 337, Fig. 193). 

. Small askos (No. 328, Fig. 169). 

. Small jar with three handles (No. 329, Fig. 168). 
. Figurine of terracotta (No. 338, Fig. 193). 

. Figurine of terracotta (No. 339, Fig. 193). 

11. Figurine of terracotta (No. 340, Fig. 193). 

12. Figurine of terracotta (No. 341, Fig. 193). 

13. Small table of terracotta (No. 334, Fig. 196). 

14. Figurine of terracotta (No. 342, Fig. 193). 

15. Figurine of terracotta (No. 343, Fig. 193). 

16. Figurine of terracotta (No. 344, Fig. 193). 

17. Figurine of terracotta (No. 345, Fig. 193). 

18. Small pot with basket handle (No. 330, Fig. 168). 


19. Bull’s head of terracotta (No. 346, Fig. 193). 
20. Small stirrup vase (No. 331, Fig. 167). 


— 
OO CW ANAW DH 


THE TOMBS 6s 


21. Small squat jar with two handles (No. 332, Fig. 168). 
22. Stem of cylix (No. 333, Fig. 169). 
23. Small stirrup vase (No. 406, Fig. 167). 


All the earth from the tomb was sifted, but the only objects to add to the foregoing list 
were two whorls or buttons of steatite and a small bead of carnelian. 

The terracottas, comprising eleven figurines, one table, and one bull’s head (or fragment 
of an animal) form the most noteworthy group of objects from Tomb XX XV, and should 
perhaps throw some light on the character of the persons buried here. The significance of 
such offerings in Mycenaean tombs 1s, however, by no means clear, and rather than venture 
into the field of conjecture one may perhaps more wisely leave the elucidation of the problem 
to future research. 

The two Mycenaean chamber tombs which have now been described were not rich in 
contents; indeed, apart from pottery (and terracottas) it must be admitted they yielded 
a rather thin harvest. They produced no gold, no jewelry, no objects of ivory or other costly 
materials, no bronze weapons or utensils. But it should be remembered that they are not 
the sepulchres of kings or of the great nobles of a Mycenaean metropolis; they are the 
simpler burial places of impecunious dwellers in a small country settlement, and as such 
their modest contribution to our ever-increasing knowledge of Mycenaean civilization 
need not be scorned. 

The tombs can be assigned without question to the Third Late Helladic stage; in form 
and method of construction they do not differ materially from scores of similar tombs at 
Mycenae and elsewhere, belonging to the long period of Late Helladic III. For a more exact 
dating within that period we must turn to the objects found inside them, and here the pottery 
is of prime importance. The discussion of the vases may be left to the chapter on pottery; 
here it need only be said that they appear to fall neither at the beginning nor at the end 
of Late Helladic III, but take a place somewhat earlier than the middle of the series. 


Toms XXV. Before going on to the next section, brief mention should be made of Tomb 
XXV, a short distance to the west of No. XX XV and higher up the slope. This appeared 
at first, when excavation began, to be the dromos of yet another Mycenaean chamber 
tomb, 0.62 m. wide, with well-cut sides splaying apart as they were followed downward. 
This dromos was cleared for some distance until it was found to end against a mass of uncut 
stereo. Further examination showed that there was certainly no tomb here; the cutting 
may be the unfinished working of the dromos of a tomb which had been begun, but was 
abandoned for some reason before completion. It was excavated to a depth of ca. 2 m.; 
near the bottom appeared a large slab of poros lying partly on its side, and broken into 
several pieces. Beneath it was found intact an unpainted jug of the Third Late Helladic 
Period, of the kind in which a workman might carry his supply of water (as a matter of 
fact, it is also very similar to the unpainted jugs from Tombs XX XIII and XXXV, and 
may have been intended as a sepulchral offering). No trace of burial or of any further 
objects came to light. 


66 THE EXCAVATIONS Ad -ZYGOUREES 


A Group or TomsBs oF INDETERMINATE DATE 


Tomb IX. Six metres northwest of No. VII a cist-grave was discovered, with its longer 
axis running from north to south. It was covered by a single slab of worked poros, 1.54 m. 
in length by 0.90 m. in width, and having a thickness of 0.15 m. to 0.18 m., which lay only 
0.25 m. below the surface of the ground. Beneath this was a narrow cist cut in stereo, ca. 
0.36 m. wide, 1.25 m. long, and 0.55 m. deep. It was filled with firm yellowish earth, not 
much different from the surrounding stereo, at the top of which lay a thin layer of loose 
grayish brown soil. No bones appeared and no objects of any kind. 


Ficure $5. Stas Covertnc Toms IX 


Toms X. About ten metres north of No. VII another grave was brought to light, al- 
most a counterpart of Tomb IX. It was covered by a poros slab running from east to west, 
with a length of 1.52 m., width of 0.90 m., and thickness of 0.24 m. (Fig. 56). Immediately 
beneath it was a thin deposit of very soft loose sandy soil, containing many small stones, 
below which a shallow pit with rounded ends took shape, apparently cut in stereo exactly 
like that of Tomb IX, but smaller. It contained no bones and no objects. 


Toms XV. Some four metres northeast of No. VII lay a third grave of the same type 
as the two just described (Fig. 57). It was covered by a slab of poros laid lengthwise from 
north to south, and measuring 0.84 m. in width and 0.29 m. in thickness. Its preserved 
length was 1.25 m., but the south end had evidently been hacked off and the original dimen- 
sion thus lost. The top of the slab was only 0.30 m. below the surface of the ground. Just 
to the south lay a tile-grave running from east to west and the mutilation of the poros 
slab must certainly date from the time of this later burial when a trench was cut across its 
south end to permit the tiles to be set in place (Plan shown in Figure 58). Beneath the slab 


THE TOMBS 67 


was a narrow Cist cut in stereo, 0.42 m. wide, 1.60 m. long, and ca. 0.45 m. deep. It contained 
soft grayish brown soil at the top, gradually changing to firmer earth until stereo was 
reached at 0.45 m. to 0.50 m. No bones came to light, and the sole object found was a small 
potsherd of coarse wheel-made ware, very likely an intrusion from the period of the Roman 
grave (see p. 72). 

These three graves, Nos. IX, X, and XV, form a very puzzling group, presenting no 
satisfactory explanation and no internal evidence of date. In the case of IX and X the 
poros slab covering the cist had apparently never been disturbed, and yet the grave con- 
tained no remains whatsoever. Presumably the loose soft earth, a thin layer of which was 
found in each grave immediately beneath the lid, is all that remains of the decomposed 
matter of the body. In all three instances the cover 1s a fairly well cut, substantial, squared 
slab of poros, though not finished with the care and precision usually seen in Greek graves 
of the classical period. Lids of this kind must be extremely rare, if indeed they occur 
at all, in prehistoric tombs. In the 
case of Tomb XV the external evi- 
dence indicates a date earlier than late 
Roman times, for the cover slab was 
damaged while lying in place, when the 
tile-grave was made close beside it. 

As already intimated above, the late 
interment overlying the Early Helladic 
ossuary of Tomb VII must certainly be 
closely connected with this group, since 
it is in all respects similar, except for 
the preservation of the skeleton. Thus 
by external evidence the ferminus post 
quem for our graves must be set at ca. 
2000 B.c., the end of the Early Helladic 
Period, and the ¢erminus ante quem in 
the fourth century, A.D., when the 
Roman burials seem to have taken 
place. The contracted position of the 
body in Tomb VII suggests at least 
that the graves fall early rather than 
late within these chronological limits, 
and I am inclined to think they may 
belong to the Middle Helladic Period, 


if not to an even earlier time. 


THe GEomETRIC PERIOD 
Toms XVIII. Tomb XVIII did not 


lie in the cemetery, but was observed 


by our sharp-sighted foreman, George Ficure 56. Stan Coverinc Toms X 


68 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Alexopoulos, in the steep scarp of a cutting for the Peloponnesian Railway on the west 
side of the track at a point ca. 20 m. south of kilometric post 27.6 (Fig. 59). The grave 
apparently ran from east to west in a cist, 0.60 m. wide and 0.45 m. deep, cut in 
stereo and covered by a thin slab of crumbly poros. Most of the grave was evidently 
sliced away and removed at the time the railway cutting was made; curiously it seems 


Ficure 57. Toms XV, From THE NorTHEAST 


LEDGE OF OVERHANGING ROCK, 
~ 


ee ee 
~~ 
-—. 


GRAVE PIT- 


: x 
~~ YO 
4\ 
\ 


i es eo nes er es er ee 


_—- —— - 


Ficure 58. Pian or Tomss XV anp XVA 


THE TOMBS 69 


not to have been observed, though the vases must have appeared in the face of the 
cutting, for the handle had been severed from the oinochoé and a large piece of the rim cut 
away from the crater, but both had been left in place. The portion of the grave remaining 
was the extreme west end, preserved to an average length of 0.27 m. In it were found two 
large Geometric vases, a crater (Fig. 172) and an oinochoé (Fig. 171), and below them a 
heavy plain bronze ring. There was no trace of bones; the skeleton had certainly occupied 
the eastern part of the grave. 


Ficure 59. Toms XVIII, rrom THE East 


THe Roman PErRtIopD 


The Roman graves were by far the most numerous in the cemetery and were well dis- 
tributed over the hillside. Many when opened were found empty of all remains, containing 
neither bones nor other objects of any kind. What had caused the total disappearance of 
the bones from these graves and the almost complete dissolution of the skeleton in others, 
and left almost no remains in such condition that they could be handled, was not obvious 
to me; perhaps it is something in the composition of the soil peculiar to Zygouries. At any 
rate, no other cemetery known to me seems to have suffered so much in this respect. 

In the present report only a few of the Roman graves which contained some object 
worth noting, or proved interesting from their method of construction will be described. 
Indeed not all of those discovered were opened; the scanty results from those examined 
were not such as to encourage extensive research in graves of this period, and their ex- 
ploration was left to the last, when it had to be somewhat curtailed by the end of the time 
available for the excavations. 


70 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Toms VIII. This grave, in its construction representative of the commonest type, lay 
some 1§ m. northeast of Tomb VII, down the slope of the hill. In stereo, along the north 
base of a vertically cut ledge of rock, a narrow shallow bed had been scooped out, just large 
enough to receive a body. After the burial this trench was covered with tiles, one large one 
(0.858 m. long, 0.37 m. wide at its narrower end, 0.40 m. at its broader end) set on its side, 
and a smaller fragment (0.45 m. long) standing on its end, both leaning against the vertical 
ledge of rock (Fig. 60). To the east of the smaller tile were several additional fragments 
filling out the rest of the length of the grave. The tiles are of the curved type. 

The shallow bed of the grave was filled with soft grayish brown earth in which no trace 
of bones appeared. At the east end of the large tile a small, coarse, wheel-made pot was 
found (No. §67, Fig. 175); there were no other objects in the grave. 


Ficure 60. Toms VIII rrom rue Easr 


Toms XII. An example of a different type was uncovered about ten metres south of 


Tomb VII. This is an oval shaft cut in soft rock with a length from northeast to southwest 
of 2.06 m. and a width of ca. 0.55 m. It was covered by three large curved tiles placed hori- 
zontally side by side with their concave surface up, while smaller fragments and bits of 
poros had been used to reach to the east end (Fig. 61). The tiles, which had been laid cross- 
wise over the grave, each end resting on a level shelf cut in stereo, ca. 0.40 m. below the 
surface of the ground, had collapsed and broken into fragments. 

The grave itself, 0.65 m. deep, was filled with earth; no traces of bones were found and 
no objects. 


Toms XIII. In a trial trench some five metres west of No. VIII, a Roman grave of 
another fairly common type came to light. This proved to be a simple shaft, 1.52 m. long 


THE TOMBS a1 


from east to west and ca. 0.50 m. wide, with no cover of any kind. Beginning at 0.40 m. 
below the surface of the ground, the shaft was cut in stereo, continuing 0.60 m. farther to 
the floor. Near the east end of the grave, which was rounded off, the badly decayed rem- 
nants of a skull were found (1 and 2 on the plan), and just west of it lay a few small de- 
composed bones (3 on the plan). No other bones could be distinguished in the grave, 
but the position of the skull indicates that the body had been laid with its head toward 
the east. 

Near the middle of the north side of the grave lay a small jug (numbered 4 on the plan), 
the handle of which was missing. The most important find from this tomb, however, was 
a bronze coin which was recovered when the earth was sifted. It is a fairly well-preserved 
piece, bearing on the obverse the head of Constantius Gallus to r. with head uncovered; 


Ficure 61. Toms XII rrom tHe NorrHeEAst 


behind the head, A; and on the reverse an armed warrior with helmet and shield piercing 
with a large spear a small enemy on a stumbling horse to |., who is trying to keep from 
falling off by putting his arm around the horse’s neck; in exergue, RQZ; in field, P. The 
inscription reads: 


Obverse: D N FL CL CONSTANTIUS NOB CAES 
Reverse: FEL TEMP REPARATIO 


The coin ' was presumably struck while Constantius Gallus was emperor or co-emperor, 
from 351 to 354 A.D.; in any case it gives the middle of the fourth century as the serminus 
post quem for the date of Tomb XIII. 


1 Cf. Cohen, Monnaies Frappées sous ’ Empire Romain (second edition), VIII, p. 32, No. 8. 


iP THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Toms XIV. Five metres north of No. XIII lay a similar shaft-grave, likewise not pro- 
vided with a cover. Cut in stereo, it had a length from east to west of 1.50 m. and varied in 
width from 0.48 m. at the west to 0.70 m. near the east end (Fig. 63). The floor of the grave 
was reached at a depth of 1.05 m. below ground. No bones were found, but almost in the 
northeast corner stood a small jar, wheel-made, of coarse fabric (No. 568, Fig. 174). There 
were no other objects. 


Ficure 62. Pian Ficure 63. PLAN oF Ficure 64. Pian or Toms XVII 
or Toms XIII Toms XIV 


Toms XVa. The Roman grave just south of No. XV has already been mentioned. 
It was similar to Tomb VIII, consisting of a shallow bed hollowed out at the foot of a ledge 
of rock, and protected by large leaning tiles, resting on edge (Fig. 58). Only two tiles ap- 
peared before the grave was opened; the westernmost was 0.95 m. long by 0.35 m., the 
easternmost 0.78 m. long, and the two overlapped for a distance of ca. 0.25 m. They were 
of the curved type, with their convex sides outward. A smaller fragment of tile covered 
the west end of the grave; when the two complete tiles were removed a third was found 
directly behind the larger one, and the fragment at the west end was shown to belong to 
this third one. 

The bed of the grave was 1.72 m. long from east to west; of irregular shape, it varied in 
width from 0.23 m. at the west end to 0.53 m. near the middle. At this latter point it was 


THE TOMBS 73 


also undercut for an extent of 0.25 m. beneath the ledge, which thus overhangs the southern 
side of the grave. No bones were found, but at the extreme west end of the grave stood a 
sturdy squat jug (No. 323, Fig. 175) of substantial fabric. 


Toms XVII. Some five metres east of Tomb XV another example of the shaft-grave 
type without a cover was cleared. It was a fairly large pit cut in stereo with sides roughly 
parallel and corners rounded; from east to west it measured 2.30 m. and had an average 
width of 1.10 m. (Fig. 64). The floor of the grave (stereo) was encountered at a depth of 


Figure 65. Typican Grave Pirs Unper Lepces or Rock 


1.10 m. below the surface of the ground. No bones were found, but close to the southwest 
corner of the pit stood a small bowl of coarse red ware with a flanged rim (No. 368, Fig. 


174). 


Toms XXIII. The two tile-graves, one on either side of the shaft which provided access 
to Tomb XXIII, have already been mentioned. They were quite like Nos. VIII and XVa. 
Nothing was found in either of them except a thin layer of loose dark earth, which might 
have been the decomposed material of the bones. 


Toms XXXIII. Reference has already been made to the cist-grave in the northeast 
corner of the chamber of Tomb XXXIII, built of stones and pieces of Greek tiles, with a 
cover made of narrow poros slabs and a fragment of a huge pithos. In method of construc- 
tion this cist is different from the other late graves found on the hill, but like them it yielded 
only the scantiest traces of bones and was empty of objects. — 


74 THE. EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 
Toma XXXV. The two shaft-graves in the dromos of Tomb XXXV, which produced 


nothing, require no further mention here, and the tile-grave above the collapsed chamber of 
the same tomb, to which the three pots found in the doorway probably belonged, has 
already been discussed. 

In this late period of the cemetery, graves with a cover of leaning tiles are considerably 
more numerous than uncovered shaft-graves. In what may be regarded as the normal type 
the tiles shelter a shallow trench, not far below the surface of the ground, cut in stereo at the 
base of a rising outcrop of rock (Fig. 65). But in some cases, such as that of No. XXIII, 
tiles were used in the same way at the bottom of a regularly cut shaft, where they certainly 
seem out of place. This leads one to suspect that the shaft-graves may already have existed 
here before the period when the tile-graves became customary; and that when occasionally 
a man seeking a place to hollow out a bed for an ordinary tile-grave stumbled by accident 
upon a well-cut shaft, he took advantage of it and treated it exactly as if it were an open 
ledge. If this was actually the case no shaft-grave containing its original interment was 
found. The three described above (they had no covers, which must almost surely have 
been placed over them in their original use), Nos. XIII, XIV, and XVII, as they were 
found, were certainly of late Roman date; and a comparison of the three vases they yielded 
with three pots from tile-graves (Figs. 174 and 175) indicates without question that the 
two types were employed contemporaneously. On the evidence of the coin from Tomb XIII 
one need not hesitate to assign this whole group of late Roman graves to the latter part of 
the fourth century a.D. But the period of the original construction of the shaft-graves must 
remain an unsolved puzzle in view of the total absence of evidence. 


CHAPTER IV 


Peet) bE Raye 


N immense quantity of pottery came to light in the course of the excavations; 
indeed, had nothing else been found, Zygouries would still be a noteworthy site 
for its series of Early Helladic and Late Helladic vases. The pottery groups dis- 

covered on the floors of the Early Helladic houses were many and in some cases comprised 
an unusually large number of intact or complete, though broken, specimens; and certainly 
the stock of the potter’s shop, including upwards of one thousand Late Helladic vases, con- 
stitutes a remarkable find in itself. But apart from these, vast quantities of sherds were 
unearthed everywhere about the settlement wherever ground was broken; hardly a trench 
failed to return its quota in heaping basketfuls. The abundance of material proved at times 
a veritable embarrassment of riches, when all available receptacles had been filled and the 
workroom was crowded to overflowing. 

So far as possible all sherds were given a preliminary washing at the site, one or two boys 
being regularly detailed to this task. After being thereupon subjected to a rough appraisal 
and a considerable reduction in bulk through the elimination of the coarser and less signifi- 
cant fragments, they were conveyed to the metochi, where they were thoroughly cleaned 
with the aid of hydrochloric acid. Whenever a basket appeared to contain several frag- 
ments of the same pot, no sherds were thrown away until all had been cleaned and an 
effort made to fit the vase together. At the close of the excavations all the material was 
transported to Old Corinth and was eventually installed in a special workroom, leased by 
the Government as an annex to the Museum. A trained vase-mender, Georgios Kontogeorgis, 
was kindly assigned to us by the Archaeological Department of the Ministry of Education, 
and with a staff of three learning assistants spent six months in mending and restoring the 
broken vases. This work has continued intermittently ever since, many months each year 
being devoted to it up to the time of the writing of the present report (October, 1925), and 
Kontogeorgis’ pupil and successor, Dimitrios Bakoulis, has proved himself a very skilful 
and dexterous craftsman. More could no doubt still be done in this line; the material from 
the potter’s shop, for example, is by no means exhausted. The vast majority of the un- 
painted cooking pots have not been mended, and without doubt further specimens of the 
other undecorated vessels could still be put together. But when from ten to fifty examples of 
each shape had been reconstituted it hardly seemed worth while to continue into the 
hundreds, since they could yield no new information, nor was the space available to place 
them on exhibition. All the other material has been patiently and thoroughly worked over, 
and I do not think that much of significance or value has escaped attention. 

75 


76 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Earty HE.tuapic PEertop 


The pottery of the Early Helladic Period falls naturally into and supports the system 
of classification proposed in the 4unual of the British School at Athens, XXII, pp. 175 f., 
and adopted in the report of the excavations at Korakou, and it will be described in this 
chapter in the order of that classification. Not a single vase of this Early Helladic ware 
at Zygouries, so far as I have observed (and I have handled an enormous number of | 
sherds), appears to have been thrown on the potter’s wheel; all seems unquestionably 
hand-made. 


A. PoLisHED WaRE 


I. Hand-polished ware of the early type found just above native rock at the bottom 
of the deeper trenches at Korakou was comparatively rare at Zygouries. The first category, 
comprising plain polished ware, apparently without a slip, occurred only, and in small 
quantity, just above s¢ereo in a deep trench south of the mound (Trial Trench V1), and in 
a deep pit, perhaps a dothros, which was revealed by a trial trench (Trial Trench VIII) 
in a field some distance below the northwest foot of the hill. This dothros was packed with 
stones, bones, and masses of pottery, all of which had apparently been thrown into it in 
Early Helladic times. The potsherds collected filled several large baskets; much of this 
was coarse material, but fine fragments were also fairly numerous, the bulk of them belong- 
ing to the hand-polished group. Most of these in turn were of the more advanced type, 
to be discussed in the following section, but some few clearly must be assigned to the first 
category. In Trial Trench VI we seem also to have an early deposit composed almost 
entirely of hand-polished wares, among which was a sprinkling of the more primitive-looking 
unslipped variety. 

This hand-made ware is all in a very badly shattered condition and no complete pots 
could be put together. Generally it seems to be a very coarse fabric, thick and heavy, with 
large gritty particles left in the clay. The clay is usually gray at the core, changing to brick- 
red at the surface. The firing was not of a very high order, having no doubt been carried 
out In a primitive and imperfect kiln: as a result the biscuit is not very hard and crumbles 
away when rubbed. 

The surface of the vase is usually only lightly polished, though some few sherds show 
a brilliant burnish. The color is red, but occasionally a mottled effect is produced by black 
patches, appearing irregularly and without pattern. No slip can be distinguished. 

Many of these sherds are marked with careless incisions, forming simple linear patterns, 
generally groups of parallel lines. The incised lines are usually rather fine. Sometimes they 
appear as oblique parallel dashes along the top of the rim, and in one case (Pate IV, No. 
12) a good herring-bone pattern is incised along the rim, on the upper side of the long lug 
handle, as well as on the semi-volute ends of the latter. Spirals also occur (zbid., No. g) as 
well as concentric circles and cross-hatching (ibid., No. 10). One sherd (zdid., No. 1), from 
a large closed vessel, bears as decoration a series of raised horizontal bands which are 
marked by short parallel vertical dashes close together; the clay in this example is gray at 
the core, terracotta red at the surface, and is filled with small particles of silvery mica; 


WiHhe POTTERY: i 


it is quite different from the ordinary local clay and almost surely indicates that we are 
dealing with an imported piece. 

The shapes seem to include shallow basins, bowls, and some kind of a large goblet with 
high strap handles — types which are all well exemplified in the slipped ware of the following 
section. It must be admitted that it is sometimes very difficult indeed to distinguish these 
two categories, the slipped and the unslipped; but in the material described above it seems 
certain that the surface of the pot has been polished directly without the intermediary of 
a slip. These pots are of course not necessarily older than the slipped ware with which they 
were found, but it is probably safe to say that they carry on an earlier type or tradition. 


II. The second category of polished ware is represented by a great many more specimens 
than the first. They came chiefly from the massed deposit in the dothros mentioned above, 
from the deeper levels of the trench south of the mound (Trial Trench VI), and especially 
from certain shallow, basin-like hollows — probably the bottoms of dothroi — brought to 
light in a cutting into the west scarp of the hill (p. 28). A few sherds were found here and 
there throughout the settlement and an especially fine variety of a related ware was repre- 
sented by the fragments of one or two pots in almost every Early Helladic house excavated. 
But this variety, which will be described separately, differs not a little from the normal 
slipped fabric now under discussion, and is undoubtedly a more advanced and later product. 
Accordingly the bulk of this polished ware, which as a whole is certainly an early group, 
is seen to come not from the settlement itself, but from the slopes and flat ground round 
about to the south and west — a fact which will have to be borne in mind in a consideration 
of the date and the “history” of the settlement. 

The ware of this section corresponds fully with the finds of early date from Korakou and 
Mycenae (B. S. 4., XXV, p. 66). It is all made without the use of the potter’s wheel; some 
of it is coarse and some fine, but it is all on the average a very good ware. The clay seems 
to have been pretty well purified, though not entirely free from foreign particles; it is often 
reddish buff right through, often gray at the core, changing to reddish buff at the surface. 
The firing seems to have been managed somewhat more effectively than in the ware 
of the first category (AI); but here too the biscuit shows a tendency to crumble ‘when 
rubbed. 

The surface is coated with a firm slip which is fairly well, sometimes brilliantly, polished 
(PLate V). The color is almost always red and tends to be very bright; but mottling is 
common and appears in black, orange-red, and red on the majority of the pots. It does not 
seem to have been manipulated to form patterns. In some cases the slip has come off in small 
flakes here and there on the vase, but it is usually very durable. The marks of the implement 
used for polishing are clearly visible; sometimes they are very fine lines, appearing almost 
like pencil strokes on the inside of a bowl (and that they were applied with some pressure 
is shown by the slight groove they have often made in the slip); sometimes they are much 
broader marks. The instrument employed may have been a piece of bone; at any rate it 
is dificult to understand how smooth leather could have produced the fine lines. 

The base of the pot is usually flat, or flat at the edge and slightly hollowed toward the 
centre (PLate V, Nos. 13, 14); at least ten of each dozen examples are of these types. 


78 THE EXCAVATIONS Al ZYGOURIES 


But raised bases also occur, though the somewhat squat form and the slight hollow under- 
neath generally betray their development from the other type (PLare V, Nos. 15, 16): 

The material was very fragmentary and not much could be put together. Among the 
shapes noted are shallow bowls with incurved rim (No. 564, Pate VII),' plates with 
a broad flat rim (PLate V, No. 6), a jug with a high neck (Puate VI, No. g), shallow basins 
with lug handles, a goblet or open vessel with high strap handles (PLare VI, No. 8), the 
pyxis (PLate V, No. 11), and a pithos with large projecting cylindrical lifting bosses 
(PLate VI, No. 11). Shallow bowls are by far the commonest and occur in many varieties 
of profile. Sauceboats are very rare; only one or two sherds seemed to belong to pots of that 
shape. 

The bulk of this ware is plain (PLATE V), but in many cases an attempt at simple decora- 
tion has been made, appearing chiefly in groups of parallel incised lines on the body of the 
pot or on the handle (PLate VI). Cross hatching, concentric circles (PLate VI, No. 3), 
bands of spraylike chevrons (PLate VI, No. 7), and a band of two parallel lines enclosing 
a row of punched dots (PLate VI, No. g) also occur among the patterns. The lines are fairly 
deep, careless strokes made before the vase was fired; no evidence remained to show whether 
or not they ‘had ever been filled with white matter. A series of wedge-shaped impressions 
stamped alternately from one side and then the other gives the effect of a raised zigzag 
line along the broad rim of a highly burnished shallow basin (Pare V, No. 2). 

A distinct improvement in the glaze medium so as to produce a good lustrous effect 
on the surface of the vase when fired — no doubt the invention of a progressive potter, 
or imported by him, perhaps from Crete — was almost surely responsible for the abandon- 
ment of the technique of polishing. A handsome bright, almost metallic, finish (PLATE 
VIII) could thereafter be obtained much more easily and simply than by the old-fashioned 
method of burnishing by hand. The new style was no doubt very speedily and generally 
adopted for ordinary pottery, and burnishing was henceforth employed only for special 
purposes. Glaze of a sort must already have been in use for some time before it was per- 
fected, for it appears on some of the pottery found in the deep deposits which contained 
the earliest polished ware. Some shapes of interest recovered from this context will be dis- 
cussed in the section dealing with glazed ware (Group B); here need only be mentioned, 
as confirming the early date of polished ware, that the deposit contained a good many bases 
of large pots marked with mat impressions, close analogies to the similar phenomena ob- 
served on the early pottery from the Cyclades (Fig. 10g). The fragments of polished ware 
already mentioned, which show an incised decoration of spirals, connected by tangents 
(PLate IV, No. g), and other simple designs must not be forgotten in the list of Cycladic 
parallels. 

The particularly fine variety of slipped and polished ware reserved for separate discus- 
sion is certainly of later date than the material with which we have just been dealing. Only 
one example of it was found in the three early deposits mentioned above; on the other 
hand it occurred, as I have stated, on the floors of almost every Early Helladic house that 


1 No. 564. Ht. 0.09 m., D. 0.167 m., D, of base, 0,067 m. Buff clay. Slip mainly red, with mottled patches of black; surface 
smoothly polished, with fine marks almost like pencil lines. Interior coated with grayish black glaze, crackled and almost 
lustreless. 


THE POTTERY 79 


was cleared, although never in large quantity. It was all badly shattered, and the sherds 
collected represent perhaps two or three vases to each house, certainly not much 
more. 

It is an extremely well-made kind of pottery, hard and thin, sometimes almost approach- 
ing egg-shell fabrics in delicacy. One cannot fail to admire the skill of the potter who, 
without the help of the wheel, produced such slight and shapely vases. The clay is of a fine 
quality and well levigated, apparently quite free from grit. It is sometimes pink or buff 
in color, but usually appears gray or almost black at the core, changing to a lighter hue 
at the surface. The firing was efficiently done, the fabric being thoroughly baked, firm 
and hard. Indeed these vases have, when struck, the musical tinkle of well-made china, 
and the very hardness and thinness of the fabric have caused them, when demolished, to 
shatter into numerous small fragments like glass. The reconstruction of one of these pots 
from its broken pieces is therefore a difficult task, but there is one compensation for the 
mender: the fractures are almost always sharp and clean. 

The whole surface of the vase, inside and out (except in the case of closed shapes, such 
as jugs, where the interior could not be reached), was coated with a fine slip, apparently 
yellow or cream-colored when applied. In the firing a vivid mottled effect was often ob- 
tained, and the finished surface, which was smoothly polished, usually presents a variety 
of colors running from grayish black or even deep blue to orange-yellow and almost white. 
The dark shades almost always occur in shapeless blotches, appearing irregularly here and 
there about the vase just as in the contemporary mottled ware from Vasiliki (Seager, 
Transact. Dept. of Arch., University of Pennsylvania, 1905, Vol. I, Part III, pp. 21g ff.). 
Wherever these blotches are formed the whole fabric seems to have been affected, though 
the carbonization does not in every case go through the biscuit to the inner surface. In a 
few cases the whole vase is dark, ranging from almost black to gray, as if completely per- 
meated with carbon; in other instances the slip has a clear yellowish buff finish over the 
entire pot, quite free from darker discolorations. 

Some few fragments bear simple incised decoration. On a large sherd from a jug (PLATE 
IX, No. 6) this consists of a double row of dots around the base of the neck and a large 
design similarly executed in the field. In another instance a single row of short slanting gashes 
appears just below the rim of an askos (PLate IX, No. 5). 

Another type of decoration consists of raised bands, sometimes rounded, sometimes 
fairly sharply ridged, which are applied in sweeping wavy lines, two or three or more, 
variously spaced, forming a simple plastic diversification of otherwise plain open spaces. 
The shape on which this style seems chiefly to occur 1s a Jug with a fairly high neck (PLATE 
Bee OS. 2, 3,4). 

The shapes represented are “sauceboats,”’ jugs, askoid pots, cups, shallow bowls, deep 
bowls or jars of a spherical form, narrowing considerably toward the opening, and a kind 
of pyxis with its lid. Among these, “‘sauceboats”’ are easily the commonest and shallow 
bowls are rare. A curious vase in the form of a bird with extended wings (PLate XXI, No. 
6) is a unique specimen. Almost all of these pots are of small size, but a few fragments of 
one or two large vases, the shape of which could not be determined, show that the same 
technique could be employed for vessels of respectable dimensions. 


80 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Since no adequate account of this ware has hitherto been published, a more complete 
description of a few examples may be permitted. 

No. 317, Piare IX. Sauceboat found in 67 fragments just outside the northwest corner 
of House L. The base is missing and has been restored in plaster. The body of the vase is 
0.125 m. high, rising to an extreme height of 0.195 m. at the tip of the spout; crosswise it 
has a diameter of 0.115 m.; lengthwise to the end of the spout, 0.145 m. It has a substantial 
vertical handle (which is apparently the regular type in sauceboats of this ware), divided 
longitudinally by a shallow groove down the middle. The lower attachment of the handle 
is rectangular with a distinctly metallic appearance. The pot has thin walls and the delicate 


Ficure 66. Yertow Morritep Ware, Earty Hevtapic Periop, Crass A II 


straight rim 1s shaped with a sure hand. The spout is fairly broad and shallow (0.063 m. 
wide). 

The clay is gray at the core, lightening to pink at the surface, and is of a thoroughly 
purified quality. The surface is coated with a firm slip, smoothly polished except on the 
inside of the vase; the fine marks of the polishing implement are easily distinguishable. 
A striking mottled effect is produced by five large and two or three smaller bluish black 
blotches distributed about the vase, while the rest of the surface exhibits various shades of 
yellow. 

No. 255, Fig. 66. Sauceboat of similar type, but not so fine, restored from seventeen 
fragments found in Trench V. Most of one side is missing. The body of the vase is 0.139 
m. high, increasing to ca. 0.179 m. at the tip of the spout; width, 0.107m.; length, not in- 


1 A list of the pots of this yellow mottled ware found in the houses, as deduced from the fragments, follows: 


House D House W 
2 askoid jugs, 2 sauceboats, I jar 3 sauceboats, 2 askoi, 1 small jar or cup 
House A House S 
I sauceboat 2 sauceboats, 2 askoi 
House or THE PirHor House L 
2 sauceboats, I jar 6 sauceboats, 3 jugs, 1 askos, 1 shallow bowl, 1 pyxis 
House OF THE SNAILSHELLS House Y ‘ 


4 sauceboats, 2 jars, I askos or jug I sauceboat, I jar 


LAE SPODTERY 81 


cluding the handle, ca. 0.14 m. The pot is unusually tall for its length, and its upright lines 
contrast with the more horizontal lines of the average sauceboat. The vessel stands on a 
well-shaped raised base. The vertical handle is similar to that of No. 317, but is not fash- 
ioned with such clear-cut lines; its attachment below is rectangular and metallic in origin. 
The spout is comparatively short and slender (width at end, restored, ca. 0.042 m.), with 
its lip sharply rolled. The clay is light buff throughout; on the surface is an excellent polished 
slip of the same color, uniform over all without blotches and mottling. 

No. 286, Fig. 67. Forward part of a large askoid pot, put together from nine fragments 
found on the floor of the House of the Snailshells. It has fairly thick walls, but is of good 


Ficure 67. Yettow Morriep Ware, Earty Hettapic Periop, Crass A II 


fabric, made of well-sifted clay. The latter is a light brick-red in color right through the 
biscuit. The cream-colored slip coating the surface is not so durable as is usual in this ware, 
having worn through in spots. It is almost uniform in color; there is no mottling, though one 
patch has turned yellow. The slip was applied on the inside surface in a band only, 0.04 m. 
wide, along the rim. The bottom of the askos was flattened to serve as a base. 

No. 1, PLareE XXI, No. 6. A peculiar diminutive vase in the form of a bird with 
extended wings. More than one half of the rim and the upper part of one side are missing 
and the lower end of the stem is broken away. As preserved, the vase is ca. 0.05 m. high, 
measures 0.064 m. across the wings, and 0.065 m. from back to tip of beak. The heavy stem, 
0.035 m. wide, through which an opening seems to have communicated with the interior 
of the pot, did not provide a vertical support, but was adjusted at an oblique angle, slanting 
down forward. This fact and the curved shape of the fracture, with which the stem now 
ends, suggest that our little vase is part of a kernos, having been one of several similar vessels 
attached to, and connected by, a horizontal tubular ring. The kernos is a shape familiar 
enough among the vases of the same general date as this from the Cyclades (PAylakop1, 
p. 102, B. S. 4., III, 1896-1897, pp. 57 ff.), but an exact parallel to this odd birdlike shape 
from Zygouries does not seem to have come to light. 

The bird is crudely represented. It has broad horizontal wings (ca. 0.035 m. long and 
projecting 0.008 m.), flat on top and marked by careless oblique incisions, which are no 
doubt intended to represent feathers. On the side of the pot above the wings are similar 


Ficure 68. SHattow Bow ts, Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass BI 


Ficure 69, SHaLttow Bow1, Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass B I, No. 55 


Figure 70. Larce Juc, Earty Hetiapic Wars, Crass B I 


THE POTTERY 83 


incised lines. The head is only roughly indicated without details. The mouth of the vase, 
which is relatively narrow, has a diameter of ca. 0.018 m., and the general shape of the 
vessel is that of a small askos. The clay, as appears in the breaks, is gray throughout, made 
of finely sifted paste, and well baked. The surface is coated with a durable hard slip and 
is well polished; its color is an almost uniform grayish black. 

No. 397, Fig. 66. Small cup, not quite complete, restored in plaster from six fragments. 
Rising from a flattened bottom, it has spreading sides and a slight flare at the rim; there 
is a single flat loop handle (mostly restored in plaster). The cup is of good fabric, made of 
well-cleaned pink clay; the surface is coated with a creamy yellow slip which was lightly 
polished. It is now in bad condition; the slip has worn through in many places, revealing 
the pink clay beneath, and few traces of the original polishing now remain. There is no 
mottling. 


B. GLAzED WARE 


To this group belongs the great bulk of the pottery from the Early Helladic occupation 
at Zygouries. The material was vastly more abundant than that from Korakou or Gonia 
and much better illustrations of the characteristic shapes can now be given. This glaze- 
technique undoubtedly lasted a very long time — its history seems to be almost as long 
as the Early Helladic Period itself. Within this long space of time some change or develop- 
ment might reasonably be expected, and there is in fact certain evidence to show that such 
was the case. It was not an abrupttransition, but seems to have been a gradual, long drawn- 
out process of deterioration. The evidence for this will be discussed after the pottery itself 
has been described. 


1. Partially Coated Ware. 

A good many intact or almost complete specimens were found. The fabric is not of the 
most excellent; the clay is good and fairly well screened, but the firing was in most cases 
inadequate, and the biscuit is often so soft that 1t wears away readily. Many of the pots 
are also badly distorted in shape as a result of warping during, or before, the baking. The 
surface of the vase was probably slipped, or at least washed, before the vessel was put in 
the kiln. It was not polished; indeed, in many cases it 1s irregular and rough; but these 
were ordinary household utensils, not vases made for exhibition. 

1. The shallow bowl is by far the commonest shape. More than thirty complete specimens 
came to light, and fragments of hundreds or even thousands were recovered everywhere 
about the settlement. None occurred in the deep pits. They have a band of paint around the 
rim, inside or outside or both, almost always the latter. Some typical examples are shown 
in Figure 68; as may be seen, most of them are of no special interest or merit. One 
(No. 43) is distinguished by a few blotches suggestive of the mottled style; in another 
case (No. 55, Fig. 69)! two broad bands of paint form a large cross on the interior of 
the bowl. 

These bowls vary widely in profile: there is no rule or regularity in the slope of the side, 
or in the curve of the rolled rim. The size also differs considerably, though the bowls are all 

1No. 55. Ht. 0.043 m.; D. 0.17 m. 


84 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Ficure 71. SMALL Juc, Earty Hetiapic Ware, 
Crass BI, No. 42 


rather small. Of the complete or restored 
examples twenty-nine have a raised base; 
in two cases the bottom is merely flattened 
enough to permit the vessel to stand, but it 
should be noted that these two bowls are 
very much shallower and broader than the 
others (No. 55, Fig. 69, is of this latter type). 

2. Jugs in this style were fairly common. 
They seem regularly to have a flattened 
bottom, a single handle and a sturdy neck 
with a broad shallow spout. Among the ex- 
amples illustrated the largest (No. 258, 
Fig. 70)? has a flattened round handle; 
Nos. 42 (Fig. 71) and 93 (Fig. 72) have an 
ordinary round handle. Its curve in all cases 
suggests that the potter was fond of askoid 
shapes. The jugs have an almost spherical 
body and the shape is not ungraceful, though 


the flat bottom is sometimes carelessly made and causes the pot to lean. 

The upper half of the body is covered by a wash of glaze, a band of which also runs 
around the inside of the mouth. The lower half of the pot bears no paint save occasional 
smears from above. The glaze, which seems itself not to be of extremely bad quality, is 
carelessly applied in a coat far from uniform in thickness; fine brush marks are almost 


1 The raised base was usually made by attaching to the bottom of the vessel a separate strip of clay bent to form a ring. 
In the better examples the joint was carefully worked over and smoothed; in the poorer specimens the strip was crudely 
applied. In a few cases the base seems to have been attached in the form of a flat disk with a raised circumference. 

2 Jugs. No. 258. Ht. ca. 0.273 m.; D. 0.248 m. Greenish yellow clay, not too well levigated. 


No. 42. Ht. ca. 0.118 m.; D. 0.111 m. Grayish buff clay. 
No. 93. Ht. 0.195 m.; D. 0.198 m. Grayish green clay. 


No. 191. Ht. 0.055 m.; D. 0.047 m. Pink clay; handle missing. 


Ficure 72. Two Jucs, Earty Hetitapic Ware, Crass B I 


THE POTTERY 8 


everywhere visible, especially where the glaze is thin. The surface is certainly not bright, 
but a faint lustre is still preserved. In some examples much of the paint has been rubbed off 
and the bare surface of the vase appears. 

A tiny jug of slightly different shape is shown in Figure 72, No. 191. The handle and part 
of one side are restored. It has a flat base, a squat broad body, and a relatively very large 
spout. It is made of pinkish clay, not very well screened. The final treatment of the surface 
seems to have been effected with a fairly stiff brush, which has left its marks everywhere. 
A lick of thin reddish paint along the rim is the only coloring that appears. 

3. The large jar with narrow mouth (No. 54),! shown in Figure 73, has a broad and 
stocky, but not unattractive, shape. The bottom is flattened as a base, or meant to be, but 


Ficure 73. Larcr Jar, Earty Heviapic Ware, Crass BI 


actually has a slightly convex surface so that the pot does not stand well. Halfway down 
the side, opposite each other, are two heavy horizontal handles; the two smaller ones set 
perpendicularly to these, high up on the shoulder, seem hardly strong enough to assist 
materially in lifting the jar; perhaps they were used rather for guiding when the vessel 
was being tilted. The neck is low and ends in a vertical rim like a collar, which may have 
been meant to receive a lid. 

The fabric is a far cry from that of the yellow mottled ware described above. The green- 
ish buff clay is filled with extraneous matter; it 1s soft, not properly baked. The upper half 
of the pot above the large handles is coated with thin glaze, which also covers the upper 
surface of the handles, but not the lower. The glazed zone is not sharply divided from the 
unglazed; on one side a splash of thin paint has run far down into the zone below. The 
glaze preserves only a reminiscence of its original lustre. 

A larger specimen of the same shape is that shown in Figure 74, No. 605.” It is largely 


1 Jar No. 54. Ht. 0.265 m.; D. 0.322 m.; D. of mouth, 0.119 m. 
2 No. 605. Ht. 0.333 m.; D. 0.359 m.; D. of mouth, 0.144 m. 


86 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


restored in plaster, but enough of the pot was found to give the complete profile from the 
flat base to the rim. The clay is buff in color, not well screened, and is not baked to a great 
hardness. The upper part of the surface is coated with a wash of thin light-brown glaze. 
This jar is taller in proportion to its diameter than No. 54; it differs from the latter also in 
its neck, which splays slightly outward; and in place of the small upper handles it has high 
up on the shoulder two long narrow horizontal lugs, doubly pierced. 


Ficure 74. Larce Jar, Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass BI, No. 605 


Other shapes in this partially coated style certainly occur. Among small pots may be 
mentioned sauceboats, one complete specimen and many fragments of which were found, 
bearing only a careless band of glaze along the rim. As to large vessels, it seems to have been 
the regular custom to treat them in the manner of the jar described above (No. 54). Numer- 
ous bulky fragments in this style belong to capacious askoi, deep basins, water jars, and 
small pithoi, no whole example of which could be put together. When the surfaces to be 
covered were so extensive, the limitation of the painted area to the upper half of the vessel 
no doubt effected considerable economy in the amount of glaze used and time and labor 
required; and perhaps this class of partially coated large vases — not so much the smaller 
pots with only a brush line along the rim — owes its origin to motives of this nature. 


THE POTTERY 84 


II. Completely Coated Ware. 

The fabric is essentially the same as that of Class BI, though in the majority of examples 
slightly better finished. This class includes all those Early Helladic pots which have their 
exterior covered with a plain coat of paint. The paint is really a glaze which varies widely 
in quality from vase to vase. On early specimens it is a fine, hard, lustrous coating of a very 
durable character (PLate VII, No. 577); on others, though not lacking in lustre, it is far 
from permanent and has flaked off to a greater or less extent, exposing the surface of the 
vase beneath; and finally, in many cases, it is a careless wash, not at all uniform in thick- 
ness, which often preserves only the faintest traces of its original lustre. On almost all these 
latter vases fine brushmarks are everywhere easily distinguishable, showing that the paint 
was applied by means of a rather delicate fine brush, probably of hair. The marks in some 
instances seem to indicate a brush ca. 0.025 m. wide. 

1. Shallow bowls or saucers are very common, but by no means so frequent as in the 
partly coated style. Apart from quantities of fragments, a dozen complete examples were 
found, ten of which have a raised base (Fig. 75 ).1 Two, which are extremely shallow, merely 
have their bottoms flattened (one is illustrated in Fig. 76, No. 270).? The raised base is usu- 
ally a crude affair, a separately moulded ring of clay applied to the bottom of the bowl 
before firing; which is indeed the usual Early Helladic technique in making bases. The 
profile of these bowls is generally a simple curve, commencing at the base and ending in a 
rolled rim, but sometimes there is an angle at the shoulder and the rim rises in a curve of 
the opposite direction (No. 387, Fig. 76).’ The fabric is usually better than in the partially 
coated class and there is not so much distortion of the shape in the firing. 

2. A hemispherical lid, in shape very much like the preceding bowls inverted, was 
found in the House of the Pithoi (No. tor, Fig. 76).4 It has a thick loop handle at the top, 
broken but restored in plaster. 

3. A good many fragments of pyxides were found, but in only one case sufficient to 
restore a small example; and even here the base and part of one side are lacking (No. 261, 
Fig. 77).° It has a rather globular shape with an extremely small mouth (diameter 0.026 
m.; diameter of the pot, 0.105 m.; height, ca. 0.073 m.). On either side low down, at the 
level of the rather sharp angle formed by the two curves of the profile of the body, is a long 
horizontal lug pierced vertically by a small hole near each end. A low plain vertical rim 
around the opening looks as if it were intended to be closed with a tightly fitting lid, which 
was probably tied on by a string passed through the holes in the lugs. 

A fragment of such a lid for a somewhat larger pyxis was found in House L (No. §70, 


1 Shallow bowls: No. 290. Ht. 0.073 m.; D. 0.135 m.; D. of base, 0.039 m. Grayish buff clay; thin brownish wash outside, 
mottled red and black glaze inside; slightly lustrous. 

No. 398. Ht. 0.083 m.; D. 0.157 m.; D. of base, 0.048 m, Greenish buff clay, good black glaze, fairly lustrous, crackled 
surface. 

No. 390. Ht. 0.051 m.; D. 0.113 m.; D. of base, 0.055 m. Pinkish buff clay, good red glaze with black mottling, inside and 
outside. 

2 No. 270. Ht. 0.04 m.; D. 0.147 m. Brick-red clay and wash of same color. 

3 No, 387. Ht. 0.076 m.; D. ca. 0.128 m.; D. of base, 0.048 m. Greenish buff clay, poor black glaze. Ht. of recurved rim, 
0.02 m. 

4No, 101. Ht. (without handle) 0.065 m.; D. ca. 0.15 m. Gray clay (burned); mottled red and black glaze. 

5 No, 261. Brick-red clay — glaze of same color — slight lustre. 


88 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Fig. 77).1 It is of circular shape with the edge turned over sharply to fit around the rim. 
On the top is a long lug with two string holes corresponding exactly to the type on our pyxis. 
The lid from House L is actually of the polished yellow mottled ware described above, but 
similar examples in the glazed style occurred. 


Figure 75. THREE SHALLOW Bow ts, Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass B II 


Ficure 76. THREE SMALL Ports, Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass B II 


The pyxis itself is pretty well made with thin walls. The smooth surface was coated 
with thin reddish brown paint, which here and there shows traces of mottling. 

4. The sauceboat is certainly one of the most characteristic shapes of the Early Helladic 
Period (occurring in no other) and, to judge by the great number of fragments found, 
must have been a great popular favorite. Shattered pieces of spouts or of the distinctively 
curved rims came to light in enormous quantities everywhere in the settlement. From this 
material it proved possible to put to- 
gether in varying degrees of completeness 
some thirty specimens which illustrate 
adequately the wide range of styles em- 
ployed. Broad spouts, narrow spouts, 
high, low, shallow, deep spouts with 
widely flaring rim, and others with plain 
modest lip, all are well represented. In 


Ficure 77. Lip (Crass AII), anp Pyxis (Crass BIT), 1 No. 570. Ht. (including lug) 0.025 m.; D. ca. 0.073 
Earty Hetiapic WaArE m. Brick-red clay, smooth cream slip. 


THE POTTERY 89 


size these vessels range from a diminutive pot, 0.05 m. high, to a capacious example 
with a height of 0.175 m. (0.255 m. at the tip of the spout) large enough to hold nearly a 
gallon. A horizontal loop handle, not very strong, attached just below the rim at a point 
opposite the spout is customary, but vertical handles also occur, especially in the case of 
the better fabrics. In all cases where the bottom is preserved, these sauceboats are pro- 
vided with a raised base. 

The quality of the ware varies greatly. Some specimens are of gross execution, made of 
little-purified clay, with thick, soft, crumbling biscuit, and with a roughly finished surface 
over which poor glaze has been carelessly smeared. Others have been manufactured with 


Figure 78. Saucesoat, Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass B II 


precision and attention, carefully refined in shape, with slender walls made of well-levigated 
paste, sufficiently fired so that the biscuit is hard and firm, with surface smoothly finished 
and covered with good lustrous glaze. These vases are usually coated both inside and out- 
side, but in many examples the interior has been left unpainted except for a brush line along 
the rim. 

The specific purpose of vases so peculiar in shape as these is not perfectly clear. It has 
been suggested that they were lamps and that the long projecting spout was intended to 
hold the wick. This theory does not seem very likely, however, for no trace of burning or 
blackening has been observed at the end of the spout, such as is of frequent occurrence on 
Greek and Roman lamps, and is indeed inevitable if a lamp be much used. Furthermore, 
the huge size and depth of many examples seem quite irreconcilable with such a purpose. 
The spout in most cases seems clearly made for pouring liquids. In spite of its evident 
popularity, the sauceboat cannot be described as a practical shape. The long heavy spout 
makes the balance precarious; when full the vessel naturally stood more firmly than when 
empty, but it seems likely that the milk was often spilled in Early Helladic houses. 


go THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Since vases of this type have not heretofore been very fully ee it may be worth 
while to give a description of some selected specimens. 

No. 226, Fig. 78. Height at middle of side, 0.175 m.; at end of spout, 0.255 m.; transverse 
diameter, 0.175 m.; extreme length (handle to end af spout), 0.265 m.; diate of base, 
0.072 m. Put together from fifty-seven fragments found just outside House L. Missing: 
two small bits of rim and the tip of one side of the spout. This, the largest example found at 
Zygouries, is fairly well made, of light buff clay not meticulously sifted. The firing was not 
of the most perfect. The vessel was finished with a good slip, over which it originally had a 
coat of reddish brown glaze which has now practically all disappeared. A relatively small 


Ficure 79. Two Saucesoats, Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass B II 


horizontal handle is somewhat clumsily attached opposite the spout just below the rim, but 
is not placed accurately in the long axis of the pot, which gives a lopsided effect. The fairly 
short, broad, flaring spout is set at a moderate angle of elevation. The under side of the 
spout is not smoothly modelled. | 

No. 115, Fig. 79. Height, 0.077 m., and at end of spout, 0.143 m.; diameter, 0.094 m.; 
length, including handle, 0.182 m.; diameter of base, 0.046 m. Only two small chips of the 
rim missing. Light buff clay. A well-made pot, found in House Y, almost symmetrical, with 
thin firm walls, it has a raised base, a horizontal loop handle, and a long narrow spout 
flaring out at the end with high-pointed tips. The spout, the under side of which is rather 
rough, has a much greater rise from the rim than that of No. 226. The vase is coated inside 
mainly with black, outside with red glaze, which has worn away in spots. A small space 
under the handle is unpainted. A large patch of black on one side and a small one on the 
other provide a mottled variation of color. 

No. 24, Fig. 80. Height, 0.13 m., and at end of spout, 0.222 m.; diameter, 0.118 m.; 
length, ca. 0.195 m.; diameter of base, 0.058 m. Forward part and base preserved; rear part 
and handle restored in plaster. Well made, with rather sure lines, this pot has thin walls, 
smoothly finished, and is about as symmetrical as is possible for a vessel of the sauceboat 


POTTERY 


gI 
shape. It has a long, narrow, de t with a wide flare at its high-tipped end (the tip 
on one side has been restored). polit is set at a steeply ascending angle; its under side 
is slightly rough, almost corrugated, one might say. The vase is made of greenish yellow 
clay of a fine grade. The smoothly slipped surface was originally coated with a uniform 
heavy, black glaze, inside and out. It has worn badly, but where it survives still preserves 
a good lustre. 

No. 28, Fig. 79. Height, 0.092 m., and at end of spout, ca. 0.15 m.; diameter, ca. 0.082 
m.; length, ca. 0.122 m.; diameter of base, 0.037 m. Missing: one side, a long narrow splinter 
from the lower part of the other, the extremity of both tips of the spout, and most of the 
handle. The whole body slopes steeply upward toward the spout; the latter, which had 


Ficure 80. Two Saucesoats, Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass B II 


moderate tips, is sharply rolled at the end. The pot, made with thin walls, has a low belly, 
curving in abruptly to the small raised base. The broad, flat, vertical handle is divided by 
a groove down the middle. This is good fabric, resembling the polished yellow mottled 
ware described above (p. 79). The clay, gray at the core, light brick-red at the surface, 
is firm and shows that the pot was well fired. The surface was coated, over a smooth slip, 
with a dark glaze, thin on the inside, but thicker and almost uniform on the exterior, al- 
though it has now been rubbed off in spots. The vase has a mottled finish: the lower portion 
is almost bluish black, set off by an irregular orange-buff line running around the body, 
while the upper part is gray, shading off toward the top. 

No. 320, Fig. 80. Height, 0.052 m., and at end of spout, 0.079 m.; diameter, 0.065 m.; 
diameter of slightly raised base, 0.025 m. Rear portion and handle missing. In this, one of 
the smallest sauceboats found at Zygouries, the broad shallow spout, which has no raised 
tips, is set at a very moderate upward angle. The clay, which in coloris light buff throughout, 
is of finely sifted texture. The exterior is somewhat rough, and the whole front, from the end 
of the spout down, presents a slightly corrugated surface, a phenomenon which may be ob- 
served on a great many sauceboats: no doubt the traces of the process by which the spout 
was worked into its final form. A coat of brownish black glaze, still retaining some of its 


THE EXCAVATIONS A 


g2 RIES 


lustre, though now much rubbed off on one side, covers the vase; the interior is unpainted 
except for a narrow band along the rim. 

No. 569, Fig. 81. Two fragments of a sauceboat of good fabric, similar to No. 226 in 
shape, though much smaller. Pinkish buff clay. It was originally slipped and coated with 
lustrous reddish brown glaze, which has worn badly. The chief interest of the fragment lies 
in its incised or impressed decoration. Two parallel horizontal lines close together, made 
by a succession of oval impressions, form a belt around the vase; from this band a group 
of four similar parallel lines extends upward along the under side of the spout; and at 
irregular intervals around the body, groups of three parallel lines in the same technique 


Ficure 81. FRAGMENTS OF A SAUCEBOAT WITH INCISED DEcoRATION, 
Earty Hettapic Ware, Crass B II, No. 569 


run up to the rim. There were probably three such groups on each side between the handle 
and the spout. No trace of pigment appeared in the impressions. 

No. 260, PLare X. Height 0.061 m.; at end of spout, 0.10 m.; diameter, 0.079 m.; length, 
ca. 0.136 m. Preserved are the front with the spout, and the rear portion with the handle 
and part of the base; the missing parts have been restored in plaster. The shape is fairly low, 
and the spout is not extremely elevated. The pot has the usual raised base (ca. 0.033 m. in 
diameter) and horizontal handle. Its unusual feature is the spout, which has its end pinched 
out into a crudely formed ram’s head. The snout is long and thin; the eyes are made plasti- 
cally by large applied pellets of clay; the horns, springing from the top of the head, curve 
down around the eyes on each side and project forward and upward beyond the line of the 
snout. The fabric is rather crude, though the shape of the pot is pretty regular and the walls 
are fairly thin. The clay is a greenish gray right through and is not fired to a durable hard- 


THE POTTERY 


ness. The surface was brushed smooth ahd coated originally with black glaze v 
almost completely vanished; where p ed it still shows some lustre. T : 
boat would be unique were it not for the fol lowing counterpart. 
No. 251, Pate X. Height, 0.07 m.; at end of spout, 0.117 m. ; diameter, ca. 0.076 m. 
length, with handle, 0.115 m. Reconearccrel from seventeen peenents found on the floor 
of the House of the Pithoi; only three splinters are missing. It is relatively thick and heavy 
and rather crudely made; has the customary raised base (diameter, 0.032 m.) and a badly 
formed thick lopsided horizontal handle. The body, which was much distorted by warping 
and exhibits no symmetry, curves upward somewhat steeply toward the spout. The latter 
is pinched out at its end in the same fashion as in the preceding example and rudely shaped 
to represent a ram’s head. The snout is slender and more abbreviated than that of No. 260; 
the horns, curved in the same way, are thicker and shorter and meet across the bridge of 
the snout. There are no eyes. The clay is gray at the core, brick-red at the surface, and its 
consistency indicates thorough baking. The surface is fairly smooth and is coated inside 
and out with a thin reddish brown glaze, shading to darker hues in a lightly mottled effect. 

No. 577, Pare VII. Fragment, the forepart of a large sauceboat, height, ca. 0.155 m.; 
diameter, 0.184 m. Missing: end of spout, and all of rear portion of the vessel, including the 
base and the handle. The pot is of good fabric, made of well-purified buff-colored clay, 
containing some particles of yellow mica; it is coated inside and out with lustrous glaze 
of excellent quality which has been somewhat damaged. In spite of its incomplete condi- 
tion, it is shown here to illustrate the possibilities of the mottled technique, for here it was 
unquestionably managed so as to produce a design. The lower part of the pot from the base 
upward is orange-red in color and the area in this tint has somehow been given a stellate 
shape with five or six points (only three of which are preserved), not regularly spaced, 
directed upward, one point following roughly the axis of the spout. Above this is a zone of 
black, which really forms the background for the star. On its upper side this zone is bor- 
dered by a band of purplish red of varying width which, starting fairly low at the back 
(i.e. below the handle), runs around the pot, rising gradually until, reaching the line of the 
spout, it curves more sharply upward from each side to form a pointed angle. Above this 
band is a further broad expanse of black background, which, as it approaches the rim, shades 
into a large and rather shapeless mass of purplish red on each side of the vase. The glaze, 
which is all the same — there is no question here of different pigments — is everywhere 
badly crackled and not a little has been lost by flaking, but the effect of this rather bold 
mottled pattern is nevertheless a striking one. 

5. Beneath the floor of the large room in the House of the Pithoi was found a fragment 
of a pot of remarkable shape (No. 238, PLare X). It seems to have been a jug with a broad 
squat body and a tall cylindrical neck, the top of which is finished almost in the form of a 
small sauceboat. Practically the whole of the body and the wide flat handle are missing. 
The neck, which has a diameter of ca. 0.056 m., rises 0.165 m. above the body (measured 
at the middle of the side; to the top of the spout 0.22 m.). It widens out at the top and the 
line of the rim is carried along on each side in a symmetrical rising curve to the tips of the 
projecting spout. This latter is fairly deep, flares slightly toward its end, and has a gently 
rolled edge. 


THE EXCAVATIO GOURIES 


The attachment of the handle both at its lower and upper end is preserved, in the latter 
case with a small bit of the handle itself. At this point a row of rivet heads seems to have 
been imitated by small applied pellets of clay, circular in shape, only one of which now 
survives. On the inside of the mouth, close to the rim and almost corresponding to the 
junction of the handle and the neck, is a simple plastic decoration. A narrow strip of clay 
has been attached here in the form of a curving U, with a rivet head, again represented in 
the same way, on either side. 

It is clear that in this oddly shaped vessel we have very active reminiscences of work in 
metal. This might seem rather startling in view of the early period with which we are deal- 
ing; but the progress of research and exploration in recent years has been gradually reveal- 
ing unsuspected abilities and capacities on the part of Early Helladic craftsmen in other 
fields than that of pottery; and we must admit the possibility of far more pretentious 
achievements in metal working than have heretofore been known. The well-formed dagger 
described in Chapter V is an indication; and the gold sauceboat in the Louvre, published 
by Childe (F. H. S., 44, 1924, pp. 163-5), opens up a new view. 

The high-necked jug we have been describing is of good firm fabric and had its exterior 
coated with a uniform black glaze of excellent quality. A vertical patch beneath the handle, 
not easy to reach satisfactorily with a brush, and the interior of the mouth were left un- 
painted. Some of the giaze on the neck has been rubbed off, exposing the bare surface of the 
pot, on which here and there, as well as in the light buff biscuit which appears in the frac- 
tures, a few yellowish particles of mica may be seen. Mica, even in scanty quantity, is so 
rare in the clay of which the vases from Zygouries were made that one is led to wonder if 
we have to do in the present case with an imported piece. 

6. From the number of sherds found in the house deposits, large askoi seem to have been 
fairly common. The fragments were usually widely scattered, however, and it was not 
possible to put together so many complete specimens in proportion to those of other shapes 
as the number of broken pieces indicated. The capacious askos illustrated in Figure 82 
was restored from 101 fragments found on the floor of the House of the Snailshells — a 
veritable triumph of mending — and is practically complete. It is a typical representative 
of its shape and for that reason deserves a brief description. 

No. 35, Fig. 82. Height, 0.22 m.; diameter, 0.217 m.; length, 0.205 m. The flattened 
bottom makes a fairly stable base. The body is low and squat with the characteristic 
oblique upward slope toward the spout. The front of the body forms a continuous broad 
curve, extending from the base to the rim, slightly flattened out in its upper part, where it 
also serves as neck. On the opposite side the neck rises at a sharp angle from the body to a 
vertical height of 0.048 m. The mouth is roughly oval, with its front or pouring side straight- 
ened; it measures 0.127 m., from side to side, 0.09 m. from front to back. A broad flat handle, 
springing from the rim, curves outward and swings down to the body; at its narrowest 
point, just after leaving the rim, it has a width of 0.042 m.; at its widest, where it joins the 
body, 0.065 m. The pot is not of very durable fabric. The clay, which is of a buff tone right 
through, and contains many particles of grit, is very soft.and rubs away almost like chalk. 
The surface was smooth and coated all over with red glaze, practically all of which has now 
disappeared; the inner side of the neck was similarly painted. 


94 


THE POTTERY 95 


No. 295, Fig. 83.1 Upper part of a similar askos from House L, The base is missing and 
has been restored in plaster. This example is somewhat better made than the preceding, 
and is, especially, more adequately baked. It illustrates well the variation permitted in this 
shape too; for the askos, like the sauceboat, seems to occur in many different forms. Its 
flat handle, narrower, shorter and more sharply curved than that of No. 35, is divided by 
a groove down the middle (in some other examples two such grooves make a tripartite 
division). The profile of the front does not follow a single curve from base to rim; it reaches 
a distinctly emphasized neck which rises almost vertically to the rim (0.038 m. high 
opposite the handle). The mouth is almost a regular ellipse, measuring 0.115 m. from front 


Ficure 82. Larce Askos, Earry Hetiapic Ware, Ficure 83. Askos, Earty Hetiapic Ware, 
Crass B II Crass B II 


to back and 0.165 m. from side to side. The rim on either side of the handle slopes gradually 
upward until near the line of the major axis of the ellipse it forms a slight angle and continues 
horizontally. 

The vase is covered with reddish brown paint, not a uniform coat in thickness; the space 
beneath the handle is not painted, and the band along the inside of the rim is rather narrow. 
Fine brush marks are particularly noticeable in this thin glaze, which still retains some 
lustre. 

A small example of an askos from House Y lacked only its rim and handle; no other 
specimens at all approaching completeness were found, but, as remarked above, handles 
and pieces of rims were common on the floors of the houses. 

These vases, with their curiously formed bodies drawn out to what is really an unwieldy 
spout at one side, are closely akin to the sauceboats, and like the latter are a distinctively 
Early Helladic type which is not met in other periods. Again the particular use to which 
they were put is problematical. Small examples would serve well as a sort of scoop to draw 


1 No. 295. Ht. as restored, 0.202 m.; D. front to back, 0.207 m.; side to side, 0.205 m. Brick-red clay changing to buff at 
surface. 


96 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


liquids or meal or grain from larger receptacles, but askoi with the dimensions of No. 35 
must have been somewhat ponderous for such purposes, and one may wonder if the long 
and rather thin, though broad, handles were-sturdy enough. For use as a container the 
shape also seems awkward, since the overweighting of one side must have made the equilib- 
rium very insecure, especially when the flattened base had been carelessly finished. 

7. Jugs with a short or long neck and spout seem to have been used very generally in 
the settlement, but no complete example of this class (B II) was recovered. Presumably 
they were not much different in shape from those of Class B I, though they appear as a rule 
to have been smaller and somewhat better made. Among the early wares from the deep 


Ficure 84. Two Dippers, Earty Heviapic Ware, Crass B II 


trench west of the hill are a few handsome specimens of long necks, covered with a rich red 
glaze (Pare VIII, No. 9), which could hardly belong to any other shape than a jug. Below 
the floor of the House of the Snailshells was found a small jug with a squat body; the 
neck was missing and there was only one fragment of the spout, which, however, indicated 
that the latter was broad and shallow. The body was coated with thin reddish glaze, slightly 
mottled in the firing. 

8. A good many fragments of necks and handles were found, evidently from large jars — 
similar to those from Korakou (Korakou, p. 8, Fig. 8), something like the later hydria in 
shape. Some of them were certainly of impressive size, but all had been shattered, and the 
fragments were so scattered that no reconstruction was possible. 

g. Among the mass of sherds from the cuttings brought to light in the west scarp of the 
hill (which, as we have seen, were probably the bottoms of dothroi), were fragments of at 
least a dozen large “dippers,” and a few shattered bits of similar vessels occurred in other 
places about the settlement, especially in the fill under the floors (from which it appears 


(EE APO TLE RY 97 


that we are dealing with a fairly early shape). It is a sort of circular cup of no great size, 
narrowing gradually to a small rounded bottom; depth ca. 0.05 m. or 0.06 m.; diameter 
roughly twice that. The wall is much thickened on one side, and from this there springs 
upward a long massive handle, the extreme end of which is curled back and around to form 
a loop or ring. Several examples of these handles had a length of ca. 0.24 m. At the loop end 
they are fairly slender and circular in cross section, but as they approach the rim they grow 
broader and thicker. These dippers are well made: the biscuit is usually a pinkish buff in 
color and has been well fired; the surface is covered with glaze, in some cases red, in others 
black, and always of pretty good quality, often still preserving a fine lustre. Mottling is 


Ficure 85. Deep Basin, Earty Hetianic Ware, Crass B II, No. 606 


common. It was not possible to put together a single specimen complete; two restored in 
plaster are, however, shown in Figure 84.1 In one of these the handle was altogether missing; 
in the other the handle is original and belongs to the vase, but does not actually join the 
preserved part of the cup; the restoration is nevertheless in both cases certain. The ring at 
the end of the handle was undoubtedly intended for hanging the dipper on a nail or peg, 
as the rounded bottom would not allow the vessel to be set down conveniently. 

10. Basins, deep and shallow, and ranging in size from small examples to huge vessels 
of great capacity, were common in the settlement, and the best are executed in the com- 
pletely glazed technique. The choicest of all belong to the earlier style from the dofhroi in 
Trial Trench I, showing a hard well-fired fabric, finished to a smooth surface, and covered 
with a thick coat of excellent glaze inside and out. The smoothing of the surface seems to 


1 No. 399. Buff clay; good reddish brown glaze, but badly worn off. 
No. 566. Pinkish buff clay; excellent red glaze, shading to reddish brown at top of handle; patch of black mottling on 


exterior of cup. 


98 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


have been done with a fairly coarse, stiff brush which has left distinct lines; there are no 
traces of the use of the wheel. The color is red in some cases, frequently black, and mottling 
is usual. 

Circular in shape, these vessels are very regularly formed, with sides spreading in a 
uniform curve from a small base to a thick flat rim which generally has a sharp edge toward 
the interior. In several examples the bottom is merely flattened as a base, usually resting 
only on an outer ring, the central part being pushed up or hollowed out. Broad strap 
handles, forming a very small loop and set close to the rim, are typical; large vessels seem 
to have had four of them symmetrically spaced. Often there are lugs instead of handles, 
sometimes apparently more for looks than for use. Occasionally a raised band with thumb 


Ficure 86. FLarrenep SpHericAt VesseL, Earty Heviapic Ware, 
Crass BII, No. 33 


impressions makes a sort of rope pattern running around the vase just below the rim. 
No whole example of these basins came to light; the most nearly complete, which has been 
restored in plaster, had a diameter of ca. 0.55 m. and a height of ca. 0.31 m. (No. 606, Fig. 
Boia 

No, 33, Fig. 86. Height, 0.176 m.; diameter, 0.26 m. A flattened spherical vessel, probably 
a jug of some kind, with a flat base, ca. 0.11 m. in diameter. It is made of greenish buff clay 
and is well fired. The surface is coated with a thin, lustrous, brownish black glaze, partly 
worn off in some places, in which the brush marks are very noticeable. The roughness of 
the interior surface near the top indicates that something was originally attached here; it 
was probably a spout, but it could not have been of large size. Whatever it was, it was not 
symmetrically placed at the top of the body, and the effect must have been distinctly lop- 


‘No. 606. Ht. 0.31 m.; D, 0.55 m. Clay gray at core, pink at surface; coated with good black glaze, with reddish brown 
mottling here and there. 


LARS POET LER 99 


sided. The vessel has one small handle, like an ordinary horizontal loop handle, but set 
vertically, though badly askew, high up on the body. It is a very puzzling piece. 

Pots of other shapes than those described above certainly occurred in the settlement 
(pithoi will be discussed in section E below), and some may not have been especially rare; 
but this list undoubtedly includes all that were common and characteristic, and it may be 


concluded with the description of a large deep bowl found on the floor of the chief room of 
the House of the Pithoi. 


Ficure 87. Bow. wirh Spout, Earty Hetitapic Ware, Crass B II, No. 276 


No. 276, Fig. 87.1 Missing: base, much of the lower part, one handle, part of the other, 
and the tips of the spout; the entire rim is preserved with the exception of a small splinter. 
This is a capacious circular bowl ca. 0.20 m. high, with a diameter of ca. 0.285 m. The body 
rises in a slightly swelling curve from the base to a distinctly angular shoulder, then con- 
tinues in another curve to the neck, where it terminates in a flat broad rim splaying out- 
ward at a sharp angle. This rim is 0.02 m. wide. Two thick horizontal loop handles are set 
opposite each other at the angle of the body, and roughly in the axis perpendicular to them 
there is a relatively small, but broadly flaring spout, bridged by the rim. The spout projects 
ca. 0.05 m. from the body. 

Just below the rim and diametrically opposite the spout on the exterior face of the upper 
zone an applied strip of clay formed a simple decoration; part of it is now missing, but the 


1 No. 276. Clay gray at core, brick-red at surface; fairly well levigated. 


~~ 


100 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


traces of the original attachment are clear. It was merely a sharply curved line the two 
ends of which were extended in a sweeping curve to right and left, resulting in an ornament 
very similar to that on the interior of the neck of the spouted jug described above (No. 238, 
Pate X), though here turned the other way up. There are no rivet heads. Plastic decora- 
tion of this general type is not rare on Early Helladic pots; many fragments were found 
bearing remains of similar raised bands. 

Our bow! is a very well-made vessel. There is a metallic look about the shape, appearing 
especially in the angular profile and in the flat rim. The walls are pretty uniform and thin 
for a pot of this size, though there is no evidence of its having been thrown on a wheel; 
and the rim is remarkably regular. The surface was finished smoothly and covered with 
good red paint, still lustrous, though some of it has been worn away. 

As stated above, the period during which this glazed ware continued to be used was 
certainly an extended one, and a considerable change or development in the fabric may be 
recognized. The evidence from Zygouries corresponds closely with that from Korakou 
and seems to be convincing. 

The earliest material is undoubtedly that from the deep pits south and west of the hill 
and from the Jothros deposit in the west scarp. Here glazed ware was found associated with 
polished fabrics, and indeed in a few rare instances vases with a heavily polished exterior 
had their interior coated with paint. This glaze, asa rule, is a thick, firm coat of rich color, 
red being much more frequent than black, though red and black mottling is common, and 
black alone is by no means rare. The glaze is often crackled, but clings tenaciously to the 
vase; it regularly has a noticeable sheen. Practically no examples of this type were found 
throughout the settlement. Representative specimens, sherds, are shown in Piate VIII. 

A second stage is almost surely represented by the material from the trenches dug 
through the floors in the central part of the hill; that is, in deposits which were certainly 
laid down before the houses of our settlement were constructed. Here, though much of the 
ware approaches closely that discovered everywhere among the houses, a significant number 
of specimens came to light closely similar to the early glazed ware from the pits. They are 
coated with good uniform paint, generally well preserved and exhibiting a distinct lustre. 
As examples may be mentioned the high neck, with spout almost in the form of a sauceboat, 
from beneath the floor of the House of the Pithoi (No. 238, PLare X) and the sauceboat 
with the mottled pattern from the trench dug through the floor of the House of the Snail- 
shells (No. §77, Plate VII, No. 2). The glaze on these specimens is more often black than 
red, though the latter occurs; mottling is still common, but whereas on the earlier ware it is 
effected by means of black patches on the red ground, the method is now reversed, and the 
result is produced by red patches on the black ground. 

A third stage, finally, is exemplified by the pottery found everywhere about the set- 
tlement, and it is of course to this phase that the bulk of the Early Helladic ware from 
Zygouries belongs. The average pot is covered with a careless wash, hastily applied in a 
thin uneven coat, in a color usually an indeterminate brownish black, frequently devoid 
of almost every trace of lustre. Vases of better quality certainly do occur, and many were 
found, the glaze of which still merits the name; and that potters were able to achieve 
extraordinary delicacy in their work is shown by some of the fine specimens of the polished 


THE POTTERY IOI 


yellow mottled ware (p. 79), which is unquestionably a contemporary product. But they 
were apparently very chary of expending their skill on ordinary everyday pots. 

The partly coated style is also at home in this stage. It might be thought that this 
class illustrates the development of the glaze technique, supposedly originating first as a 
band of paint along the rim to facilitate the pouring of liquids from vessels of porous clay, 
then gradually spreading so as to cover the whole pot. This explanation sounds reasonable 
enough as a theory. But no example of the partly coated style was found in the deep pits 
at Zygouries, and it was not abundant under the floors of the houses; in fact it is clearly a 
late arrival and only becomes abundant in the houses themselves. So it seems much more 
likely that this ware represents the end of a development rather than the beginning and is 
actually the penultimate step in the degeneration of the glaze technique (for the final step, 
see p. 110 below). 

Certain differences in shape appear to accompany these changes in the character of the 
glaze. In the deep pits flat bases were the rule for small pots as well as large, though raised 
bases also occurred. In the deposits beneath the floors the latter had become regular, and 
in the settlement they are practically universal, though for large pots such as jugs, jars, 
and askoi, flattened bottoms are still customary. 

Few sauceboats were represented among the fragments from the deep pits, but in the 
deposits under the pavements they were common, and on the floors of the houses abundant. 
Large dippers of a characteristic type were fairly numerous in the deep pits and in the 
bothro1; a few handles of the same kind came to light among the remains of the second stage, 
especially from the deeper levels in Trench V, but the shape is practically non-existent in 
the settlement, where its place is taken by smaller unpainted ladles (p. 108). Shallow bowls 
seem to have been equally popular in all three phases, but have a much more carefully 
formed profile in the earliest stage, with a rim rolled over in a stronger and more finished 
manner. In the earlier ware, in general, the lines of the pot are sharper and seem made with 
a sure hand; in the later ware they are careless and crude. Metallic-looking strap handles 
with their edges turned were found in some numbers in the pits, but were rare in the settle- 
ment. Possibly some of this early ware was manufactured in careful imifation of metallic 
prototypes; later metal itself perhaps became more common, though we still have very 
scanty evidence in this field, and there was no longer so great a demand for studious imita- 
tions. The decline in the glaze technique may merely mean that the ambitious efforts of 
the handicraftsmen were directed into other channels. 

In summary, before we go on to the next group of Early Helladic ware, I think we may 
say we have evidence for three phases in a gradual evolution, or rather deterioration, in the 
glaze technique. The early red glaze, perhaps through the influence of the mottled style, - 
gives way to black, and this in turn degenerates into a poor brownish black wash; but 
there are no sharp dividing lines, and the whole process is one of slow, gradual transition. 


C. PaTtTrERNED WARE 


Patterned ware was comparatively rare at Zygouries, but scattered sherds were found 
here and there throughout the settlement, and a few came from the deposits under the 
floors of the houses. The greater number were unearthed in the central part of the hill 


cea 


se 


Ficure 88. Earty Hevrapic Parrernep Ware, Crass C I Wo 


<j 


TOE PORE RY, 103 


xX 


and allowed the restoration of four vases, a fifth being found intact and a sixth practically 
so. These pots merit illustration here, since they add to the meagre assortment of Early 
Helladic patterned ware available in publication and offer new types. Some of the best 
material was undoubtedly among the shattered fragments too small to give complete 
patterns or even in some cases the shapes of the vases to which they had belonged. A 
number of the most interesting pieces will be found in Figure 88 and Plate XI. This ware 
falls clearly into the classification worked out on the basis of the discoveries at Korakou, 
presenting good examples of the two styles of Class I, in which dark patterns were em- 
ployed on a light ground. No more than half a dozen specimens of Class IT, with light decora- 
tion on a dark ground, were discovered. 


I. Decoration in dark color on a light ground. 

(a) Pattern limited to a narrow zone or zones reserved when the rest of the vase was 
coated with glaze. 

No. 114, Plate XII, No. 1.1 Upper part of a somewhat squat jug, with narrow neck 

splaying to a wider mouth; the lower half of the pot, including the base, is missing. Greatest 
diameter, ca. 0.105 m. The jug probably had a small loop handle similar to that on early 
Mycenaean (Late Helladic I and II) vessels of approximately the same shape (Korakou, 
p. 53, Fig. 71). The lower half of the body (as shown by the very scanty remnant still 
preserved) and the neck were coated with thin glaze, the zone between being reserved for 
decoration. This zone is divided into an upper and a lower belt by two parallel lines which 
run around the pot. In the lower a pair of lines connected by numerous cross lines forms a 
simple zigzag; in the upper belt is a band of double triangles, one inside the other, the inner 
of which is shaded by cross-hatching. And finally along the inside of the rim we have again 
two parallel lines, joined by oblique cross lines close together. Altogether it is a very simple 
linear decoration carried out in the same brownish black paint which covers the upper and 
lower parts of the vase. This paint is very thin and has only the slightest lustre. The surface 
of the pot is smooth and bears a cream-colored slip; much of it has apparently flaked off 
in splinters, due to the effect of fire. 
' Prate XIII, No. 2. A fragmentary tankard from Trench VI; only part of one side is 
preserved and the vessel has been restored only in the drawing by Mr. De Jong. It is made 
of a fine pinkish buff clay which has turned gray at the core; the surface is covered with a 
powdery buff slip, worn away here and there. The tankard has a widely splaying rim; near 
the bottom the side forms a fairly sharp angle, where the broad body contracts abruptly 
toward the base; the base itself is missing. 

A smooth coat of good reddish brown glaze covers the upper and the lower part of the 
body, an uncoated (but slipped) zone being left around the middle. On this zone, with the 
buff slip as a background, is painted a linear pattern consisting of a horizontal band of 
fine overlapping chevrons, and framed above and below by four horizontal lines. The handle 
is marked merely by four parallel vertical lines. 

(b) Open or free style. 


1No., 114. Fine grayish buff clay, changing to pink at the surface. Much damaged by fire, which has caused the surface 
to flake and splinter off. 


104 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


The whole surface of the vase is left open for decoration, which is, however, often ar- 
ranged in belts similar to those we have seen in Class (a). Most of the examples of patterned 
ware from Zygouries belong to this style. 

No. 113, PLate XIII, No. 1.1 Fragment of a tankard preserving a little more than 
half of the side and rim, together with one handle; the base is missing. Its greatest diameter 
is 0.129 m. The pot is finished with a good slip on which it carries three zones of decoration 
in lustrous reddish paint. The pattern is extremely simple, consisting in each case of three 
parallel lines, the upper and lower group being characterized by short oblique dashes pro- 
jecting from the top line. The handle is marked by an irregular zigzag in the same style, 
formed in its lowest step of four parallel lines, which are succeeded by three in the second 
and third steps. Along the inside of the rim are 
three parallel lines, from the upper of which small 
diamonds in solid color project toward the lip. 
The surface of this pot is much damaged, and the 
paint has been partly rubbed off. 

No. 8, Fig. 89.2 A rather poorly made small pot 
with a basket handle and with a tubular spout 
projecting from the middle of one side. The handle, 
which was broken away, has been restored in 
plaster. The pot is thick and heavy, with a slipped, 
but far from smooth, surface. Below the attach- 
ment of the handle at the back isan irregular swell- 
ing which may be a crude attempt to imitate a 
rivet head, or may mean that the handle was 
ridged (but there is no corresponding swelling at 
Ficure 89. Smatt Por win Spout anp Basket the front). The bottom of the vessel is flattened as 
Hanpie, Earty Hetiapic PatrernepD Ware, : : . : 

Crass CI, No. 8 a base with a concavity at its centre. The body is 
inclined toward the globular in shape with an angle 
at the neck and a slightly splaying rim. It is decorated with large dots not uniform in shape 
and very irregularly spaced. Perhaps the intention was to arrange them in three more or 
less horizontal rows running around the pot; if so the scheme became confused at the back, 
and only two rows appear on the side opposite that shown in our figure. Dots were painted 
also on the bottom of the vase and on the spout. The paint is worn and crackled and shows 
very little lustre. A few particles of mica may be distinguished in the buff-colored clay. 
The similar dotted decoration on certain pots from Phylakopi may be cited as a Cycladic 
parallel (PAy/akopi, Pl. XI, 6). The vessel may perhaps have been an infant’s “feeding 
bottle.” 

No. 218, Fig. 88, No. 2. This, the smallest vase found at Zygouries, has a height of 
0.02 m. and a diameter of 0.022 m. It resembles a short thimble with a rounded end. Care- 
lessly made of pinkish buff clay, it has a rough surface decorated in the same style as the 
preceding example with five large irregular dots in lustrous red paint. One occupies the 


‘No, 113. Well refined pink clay; creamy slip. 
* No. 8. Clay buff throughout; not meticulously refined; Ht. 0.074 m.; greatest diameter, 0.083 m.; length of spout, 0.035 m. 


THE POLTERY: 105 


bottom, and the others are unevenly spaced around the side. I do not know what use could 
have been made of this diminutive vase except as a children’s plaything, or possibly, as the 
shape suggests, a thimble. 

No. 271, Fig. 88, No. 5.! Fragment of a small pyxis preserving more than half the rim, 
part of one side, and one lug; the base is lacking. Greatest diameter, 0.086 m. The body in 
its lower part seems to have been very squat, spreading out to a sharp angle; then it rises 
in a more rounded curve to a narrow mouth (diameter 0.035 m.) with an upright rim over 
which a lid no doubt fitted. At the angle were two long horizontal lugs set opposite each 
other, pierced vertically near each end. The vase is made of greenish buff clay, not well 
sifted; the biscuit is soft as a result of insufficient firing. The surface, to some extent pre- 
pared, but hardly slipped, is decorated with irregular lines fairly close together running 
from rim to base. There was probably a horizontal line following the angle of the body and 
possibly another around the edge of the rim. Short vertical dashes decorate the rim on the 
inside. The medium was originally a brownish black glaze which has crackled and almost 
totally vanished; a faint brownish trace alone remains to indicate where the lines ran. 

No. 205, Pate XII, No. 2. Height, 0.07 m.; diameter, 0.147 m. The most curious pot 
in the patterned style found at Zygouries is a squat askoid vessel with a basket handle, 
closed top, and a vertical spout. Spreading widely from a very narrow and deeply concave 
base to a sharp angle, the side curves back again to a sort of apex across which the handle 
is fairly symmetrically placed. The spout, which is missing and has been restored in plaster, 
was off to one side in the axis perpendicular to that of the handle. The vase is made of 
buff clay containing many foreign particles; it is baked fairly hard, and the surface is slipped 
and smooth. It bears a decoration in three kinds of technique, painted, incised, and punched, 
all on the upper curved zone. The painted decoration consists of broad careless lines divid- 
ing the zone into a series of narrow vertical panels of irregular width. The two on the side 
away from the spout are broader than the rest and have a line of dots running down through 
them from top to bottom. The other panels contain a single dot, or sometimes two, and have 
one or two at their tops between the ends of the dividing lines. The handle, finally, bears 
three rows of these painted dots. The incised decoration consists of four deeply cut lines or 
grooves along the top of the handle and four short transverse lines at its base. Below these 
latter is a large rounded impression. The angle between the upper and the lower zones 1s 
marked all the way around by very short, mostly vertical, incisions, close together, but not 
evenly spaced. Just above these incisions a row of small, deeply punched holes runs around 
the vase. The base of each handle is enclosed by a double row of the same kind, from which 
a connection extends on each side to a similar ring around the base of the spout. The two 
bases of the handle are likewise connected on the side away from the spout, and here in 
each of the two large panels, a line of these punched holes curves down to join the row 
encircling the vase above the angle. The holes and the incised lines are fairly deep, but no 
trace of white filling was found in them. The paint, which shows brush marks here and there, 
is reddish brown in color, much crackled, and has no lustre left. In the complexity of its 
decoration this pot is quite unique among Early Helladic productions; but in spite of the 
effort which seems to have been expended upon it, the effect achieved can hardly be said to 


1 No. 271. Greenish buff clay, containing many foreign particles. 


106 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 
be very successful. In shape the vessel might perhaps be regarded as a forerunner of the 
later stirrup vase. 

D. UnpainteD Ware 


As at Korakou, there was at Zygouries a large amount of ware without paint, even 
without slip, carelessly made, but still too fine to be classed with coarse ware. In fabric 


Ficure 90. THREE SHALLow Bow ts, Earty Hetitapic Unpainrep Ware, Group D 


Ficure 91. Earry Hetiapic Unpaintep Ware, SEAL IMPRESSION, AND IMPRESSED Bases 


these vases are essentially the same as those of Group B in its latest phase (B I), except 
that they lack even the partial coat of glaze. 

1. The most common shape is the shallow bowl, specimens of which are shown in 
Figure 90.’ Some of them are fairly regularly shaped (No. 107) and have a well-smoothed 
surface; others are very irregular and sometimes badly misshapen as a result of sagging 
or warping before or during baking (No. 234). The base is often flat, often raised, and 
usually very crudely made, a clumsy ring of clay attached to the bottom of the vase. In a 
few instances (Fig. 91, Nos. 3, 4) the flat bases bear what looks like the impression of a 

1 No. 107. Ht. 0.057 m.; D. 0.133 m.; D. of base, 0.039 m. Grayish buff clay, not well sifted. 


No. 234. Ht. 0.058 m.; D. 0.096 m.; D. of base, 0.03 m. Buff clay, rough, carelessly finished surface. 
No, 269. Ht. 0.059 m.; D. 0.112 m.; D. of base, 0.036 m. Grayish buff clay, smoothly finished surface. 


bobo LB E RY toy: 


large coarse mat on which the vessels seem to have been worked — the impressions are too 
deep to have been caused merely by setting the vases down for drying. One fragment 
(Fig. 91, No. 2) has a clear impression of a leaf, exactly similar to that familiar on early 
pottery from the Cyclades (E¢. ’Apy., 1898, Pl. IX, No. 112; 1899, p.85). Another fragment 
(Fig. gt, No. 1) is marked on its side near the base by the impression of a seal of circular 
form. The circular labyrinthine pattern of the seal is 
similar to that impressed on a fragment of terracotta from 
an Early Helladic deposit at Asine (Bulletin de la Société 
Royale des Lettres de Lund, 1923-1924, p. 165, Fig. 3) 
which, as Professor Persson points out, has Early Minoan 
affinities, and this small fragment therefore assumes im- 
portance in its bearing on the date of the settlement at 

Zygouries. The impression must have been made while Gees Stale vanes aa 
the clay was soft before the vase was fired, but its mean- 


ing on the exterior of this shallow bowl is not so easy to explain. If it is a potter’s mark it 
is a most unusual one, as no other similar example was found. Potter’s marks were ex- 
tremely rare at Zygouries, the total number found being hardly more than half a dozen, 
only two of which (Fig. 92) were completely preserved. One on the bottom of the base of 
a shallow bowl is a simple cross formed by two intersecting incised lines; a fragment in 
the glazed style bears a similar cross on its side just above the base. 


Ficure 93. Smartt Disues or Pareraz, Eartry Hetiapic UnpainreD WARE 


2. A great many tiny dishes or paterae were found. They are usually rounded under- 
neath and very shallow inside, and almost always crudely and irregularly made (Fig. 93). 
Each one has a small boss or ‘“‘button”’ formed by an attached pellet of clay at the centre 
of the interior. These diminutive dishes, some of which measure less than 0.04 m. in diam- 
eter, appeared in quantities everywhere about the settlement, often in unbroken condition. 
What specific purpose they served is not clear to me. 

3. A very closely related shape is a small ladle (Fig. 94),' the body of which is exactly 
like these paterae, save that it has no boss at its centre. From one side projects a fairly 


1 Dimensions of typical specimens: No. 212. D. of ladle, 0.071 m.; length of handle, 0.12 m. Buff clay, crudely finished. 
No. 242. D. of ladle, 0.047 m.; length of handle, 0.086 m. Grayish clay; carelessly shaped. 


108 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


stout flat handle tapering somewhat toward its end, which is roughly folded back on itself. 
This latter is clearly a reminiscence of the carefully made ring in which the handles of the 
long dippers described above (p. 96 f.) terminate, and by which those utensils were evidently 
suspended. In the examples under consideration the fold at the end is not adapted for 
hanging and is probably no more than a meaningless survival. In most cases these ladles 
are extremely shallow and would serve acceptably as spoons; but a few have higher sides 
and a broader diameter, resembling modern ladles. More than a dozen specimens were found. 

4. Another common shape, one example of which (No. 565, Fig. 95)! was found in 
Toms VII and one (No. 303, Fig. 96) ? in Toms XX, is a low jar with flat bottom, broadly 
rounded body, and a rather narrow vertical neck (see also Nos. 111, 20, Fig. 97).? Usually 
it has two small, more or less flat, loop 
handles set vertically about half way 
down the body. On one very crude speci- 
men (No. 273) heavy horizontal loop 
handles occur. These jars vary consider- 
ably in size, as may be seen from the 
illustrations. So far as could be observed 
the shape does not occur in the glazed 
technique. 

5. A deep jar of related shape is illus- 
trated in Figure 98 (No. 400).4 It is a 
well-made oval pot which has been put 

together from twenty-six fragments. It 

Ficure 94. Lapis, ee ae Unpatntep Ware, ce ee etait hike ee re Auvices 

ing the bottom; the centre is hollowed 
out underneath and the vessel thus rests on a narrow ring. On each side, fairly high up on 
the body, is a broad flat loop handle of the usual vertical type, but here set horizontally. 
The neck splays outward in a bell-shaped form to a good rim. This jar, which is of much 
better fabric than the ordinary pots of this class, was found in the “‘dothros deposit” in 
the west scarp of the hill and, as its good lines and the form of the base indicate, is of 
relatively early date. 

6. From the same deposit came a number of huge broad loop handles, examples of which 
appeared also in the deep pits south and west of the hill (Fig. 99). They seem to have be- 
longed to enormous jugs or jars somewhat resembling the preceding in shape, but no whole 
pot could be reconstituted. The handles were apparently set vertically; some of them are 
more than 0.09 m. broad. A smaller specimen of the same general type (Fig. 100, No. 3) 
has two “‘rivet heads” on its upper surface. The fabric is in all cases good, though rough; 
the handles were made for service rather than for ornament. 


No. 565. Ht. 0.10 m.; D. 0.115 m.; D. of mouth, 0.07 m. Light buff clay containing many gritty particles. 

? No. 303. Ht. 0.108 m.; D. 0.109 m.; D. of mouth, 0.08 m. to 0.085 m. Coarse buff clay; shape very crude and irregular. 

3 No. 111. Ht. 0.104 m.; D. 0.119 m.; D. of mouth, 0.062 m. Coarse light buff clay. 

No. 20. Ht. 0.154 m.; D. 0.169 m.; D. of mouth, 0.112 m. Grayish buff clay of coarse texture; well made and regular. 

* No, 400. Ht. 0,24 m.; D, 0.206 m.; D. of mouth, ca. 0.137 m.Grayish buff clay of varying shades, not well sifted. Well- 
made pot. The surface was originally smoothly polished. 


TAEY POLLERY: 10g 


Figure 95. THree Earty Hextiapic Ports rrom Tomes VII, 
Nos. 363, 565, 571 


Ficure 96. THree EArty Hextitapic Pots rrom Toma XX 


Ficure 97. Two Jars, Earty Hetiapic Unpainrep WARE 


IIO THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


7. Finally there remains to be mentioned the deep basin shown in Figure 1o1 (No. 36),! 
restored from twenty-six fragments. It stands on a fairly small raised base, has sides rising 
in an almost straight line to a thickened rim, which has been somewhat flattened on top. 
There are no handles, but in their stead appear two long horizontal lugs each with a pro- 
jection near its ends. They seem not especially useful for anything but ornamental purposes, 
and even as such their value is not great. The exterior of this basin presents a coarse porous 
texture; faint traces inside suggest that the interior was originally coated with a thin 
brownish wash of paint, and the pot should therefore perhaps be included in Group B 1; 


Figure 98. Deep Ovar Jar, Earty Hexiapic Unpaintep Ware, 
No. 400 Enk defr—A- 


it has been described here, however, as offering a good connecting link between that group 
and Group D. The pot, found on the floor of the House of the Snailshells, belongs of course 
to the latest stage at Zygouries. 

Other shapes of vases of this group were no doubt used in the settlement, but no further 
types are represented among the specimens we were able to put together. This plain ware 
as a whole, leaving out of consideration the early material of much better fabric from the 
deep deposits, is a poor class of pottery. From the conclusions which were reached (p. 100 f.) 
concerning the relative chronology of the different styles of glazed ware (Group B) and the 
evolution there represented, it seems probable that we have here the final step, coming 
next after the partially coated style, in the degeneration of that technique. Naturally the 
two styles found together on the floors of the same houses are here actually contemporary, 
but in this plain ware we have without doubt what would ultimately have become the 
predominant pottery if the development had been allowed to continue without interruption. 


1 No. 36. Ht. 0.174 m.; D. 0.305 m.; D. of base, 0.098 m. Coarse light buff clay, carelessly finished. 


tHE POLLTERY iA i 


Ficure 99. Larce Loop Hanpres, Earty Hetitapic Unpaintep WARE 


Ficure 100. FEarty Heiiapic HAnpLes AND Spout Succestinc Merat Prororyres 


112 THE EXCAVATIONS AT4ZY GOURIES 


E. Coarse Ware, IncLupinc Domestic Pors anp Pituor 


Coarse domestic ware was found in abundant quantities everywhere, both in the deep 
pits and in the trenches on the hill, representing the early and the intermediate stages, and 
of course especially in the deposits on the floors of the houses. No marked difference is 
recognizable among the pots from these three strata (except in the case of polished examples, 
only a few fragments of which came to light), which all present more or less the same 
appearance. It is usually a thick, heavy ware, made of coarse unpurified clay, generally 
not baked thoroughly hard. The color ranges from brick-red to a smoky black. Some of 
the pots seem blackened by the fire over which they were no doubt used for culinary pur- 


Ficure tot. Deep Basin, Earty Hetiapic Unpaintep WARE 


EAL 


poses. Others were presumably storage jars and owe their blackness here and there to un- 
even firing. In most cases these vessels are roughly made, with no attempt at careful finish, 
being intended for hard use; but several examples standing on a good raised base exhibit 
better lines. 

1. A shallow bowl with flat base (No. 53, Fig. 102),! similar in shape to the ordinary 
bowls of the glazed and the unpainted groups, was found on the floor of the House of the 
Pithoi. It is brick-red underneath, blackened by fire along the rim, and similarly discolored 
inside. The vessel, which has a diameter of 0.205 m., has no handles, but a widely spaced 
pair of conical projections on each side at the rim. It may have been employed as a sort of 
chafing dish, or perhaps rather, on the evidence of the discoloration, as a lid to cover a large 
cooking pot. The flat base was carelessly made, as a result of which the bowl is 0.051 m. 
high on one side and 0.065 m. on the other. 

2. A type of small cup illustrated in Figure 102 (No. 213) ? seems to have been fairly 
common. It is really almost an askos in shape, as may be seen from the forward position 
of the mouth. These cups sit on a flat base, and have a broad squat body which narrows 


tNo. 53. Coarse brick-red clay, smoked and blackened. . 
” No. 213. Ht. 0.079 m.; with handle, 0.103 m.; D. 0.099 m.; D. of mouth, 0.063 m. Coarse clay, gray at core, brick-red 
at surface. 


VEL S PORE Tay, 113 


Figure 102. SHALLow Bow. anp Cup or Coarse Fasric, Earty Hexiapic Periop 


Ficure 103. Two Asxomp Cups or Coarse Fasric, Earty 
HE tapic PEeriop 


Ficure 104. Cup AnD Jar, Coarse Ware, Earty Hettapic PErtop 


114 THE EXCAVATIONS. AT ZYGOURIES 


to a mouth with an upright rim. The large round handle springs upward from the rim and 
then swings down until it reaches the body at approximately its widest point. Three cups 
of this kind were recovered almost complete (No. 213, Fig. 102; Nos. 109 and 394, Fig. 
103).1 

3. Another kind of cup in a somewhat better style is shown in Figure 104 (No. 206, from 
House L).? Though coarse and heavy, it has a good shape, standing on a regularly formed 


Ficure 105. Cooxine Por anp Beer Bone, Earty Hetapic Periop 


Figure 106, Broap Jar, Coarse Ware, Earty 
He tapic Periop 


‘No. 109. Ht. 0.071 m.; D. 0.10 m. Handle restored. D. of mouth, 0.069 m. Coarse gray clay, brick-red at surface. 
No. 394. Ht. 0.07 m.; D. 0.095 m.; D. of mouth, 0.054 m. Rather coarse clay, light brick-red in color. 
* No. 206. Ht. ca. 0.106 m.; D, 0.115 m.; D. of mouth, 0.94 m. Very coarse brick-red clay. 


Ere POULER Y 


Ficure 107. Huce Jar, Coarse Ware, Earty 
He Ltapic PEriop 


Ficure 108. Two Cy.tinpricaL Stanps, Coarse Ware, Earty Hettapic Periop 


I1¢ 


« 


116 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


raised base (which has been restored in plaster, but is correct), with a well-rounded body 
curving inward to the rim. There is a single round loop handle rising somewhat above the 
rim, and opposite it is a small horizontal lug. The vessel is brick-red in color, but on the side 
away from the handle has dark patches that seem to have been caused by fire. 

4. The jar, an illustration of which appears in Figure 105 (No. 287),! was found in the 
House of the Pithoi on the floor behind the row of storage jars which stood against the rear 
wall of the chief room. It contained a very large bone, a beef joint, almost surely the re- 
mains of the last meal prepared in the house before its destruction. The vessel is a simple 
deep jar; it stands on a comparatively small raised base and has curving sides which rise 
to a broad mouth with rounded rim. Other similar jars are shown in Figure 104 (No. 39) ” 
and Figure 106 (No. 572), * both of which have a slightly flattened rim. The pot containing 
the bone is relatively small (height ca. 0.175 m.); a huge example of the same general type, 
which seems to have been exceedingly common, is offered. in Figure 107 (No. 573). It is 
0.43 m. high, and its mouth is elliptical rather than circular, with a long diameter of 0.50 m. 
and a short diameter of ca. 0.44 m. This shape may have been accidental rather than inten- 
tional, due perhaps to sagging while the vessel was drying before firing. The pot, which 
came from the House of the Snailshells, seems altogether too large to be used for cooking 
and was probably a storage vessel. 

5. Figure 108 presents two large examples of a curious shape (Nos. 105 and 275).° They 
seem to be substantial cylindrical bases or stands which supported some kind of broad 
shallow basin made in one piece with them. This basin itself is in both cases unfortunately 
almost entirely missing, and its size and shape are consequently matters of conjecture. The 
stands, which are of course hollow, are well-made supports. The smaller one widens toward 
the bottom and has a raised and impressed band running around it just above the foot. 
Height ca. 0.26 m. The larger, 0.40 m. high, swells out below to a bell-shaped foot which is 
likewise decorated with a raised and impressed band. The foot has a diameter of 0.298 m., 
from which it is legitimate to conclude that the basin it supported was a very large and 
ponderous one. The cylinder decreases slightly in diameter as it rises, measuring ca. 0.16 
m. across at the top. No good analogy to this shape in the field of Early Helladic pottery 
seems to have been previously published. 

6. In the deep pits, which have been so often mentioned, and rarely on the hill itself, 
were found not a few bases or fragments of bases of coarse pots bearing on their under side 
the clear imprint of a mat. As appears in the illustration (Fig. 109) these mats must have 
been of many different kinds and weaves: some were apparently circular, plaited in spirals; 
others follow a rectangular system. The most curious is a small fragment (Fig. 109, No. 7) 
of coarse pinkish gray clay, coated with black glaze above and below. On one side it bears 
an impressed pattern formed of odd fan-shaped figures arranged in concentric rows around 
an incised central circle. Whether this was the interior or the exterior surface of the vessel 


‘No. 287. Ht. 0.175 m.; D. 0.202 m.; D. of base, 0.087 m. Coarse brick-red clay, but well shaped. 
? No. 39. Ht. 0.172 m.; D. 0.208 m.; D. of base, 0.09 m. Coarse brick-red clay, outside smoked. 

§ No. 572. Ht. 0.236 m.; D. 0.275 m.; D. of base, 0.117 m. Coarse brick-red clay. 

* No. 573. Coarse brick-red clay. 

* No, 105. Coarse buff clay, no slip. 

No. 275. Coarse clay, gray at core, pink at surface; no slip. 


WHE? POBLERS 117 


does not appear. No parallel to this piece is known to me. These impressions provide here 
at Zygouries still another link with the Cyclades, but yield nothing to add to the discussion 
of their meaning by Edgar (Phylakopi, pp. 94 ff.). 

7. There remain to be mentioned certain large coarse baking pans similar to those found 
at many other Early Helladic sites (Cf. the “rugose ware” at Tsani, Prehistoric Thessaly, 


Ficure 10g. Mar Impressions, Coarse Ware, Earty He.iapic Periop 
Ev. . 


p- 144; Korakou, p. 13), a good many fragments of which were found all about the settle- 
ment. Each house seemed to have at least one such utensil, and not a few sherds also came 
from beneath the floors. Unfortunately not a single example was sufficiently preserved to 
be worth restoring, and nothing further can be said regarding the shape than has already 
been published (Korakou, p. 13, Fig. 15), except that it seems doubtful if these pans had 
a handle. The place at which the rim, decreasing in height, almost vanishes in the bottom 
of the pan may have been merely a broad channel or spout to facilitate pouring. Curiously 
all specimens found are broken at this point and the vital piece necessary to settle the 
question is always missing. No handle at all appropriate for these large pans came to light 
at Zygouries. Some of these vessels are of impressive size; one example, nearly half the side 
of which is preserved, has a diameter exceeding 0.55 m. 

8. The ordinary storage vessels of great capacity throughout the settlement are pithoi 
of various shapes and sizes. Remains of these were brought to light in every house: at least 


118 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


four originally stood in a row against the rear wall of the great hall in the House of the 
Pithoi; one occupied a similar position in House D; and six of somewhat smaller size stood 
propped up with stones in the southwest chamber of House L. In the other houses they had 
all been completely reduced to fragments, and their original position was no longer indicated. 
In the region just west of the House of the Pithoi a number of hollows in native rock (or 
sometimes apparently in the pavement) appeared, a few still containing bottoms of pithoi 
which had once been set up there. 

The largest of all the specimens were found ca. 100 m. south of the hill, where they had 
been revealed in the steep side of the deeply cut bed of a small stream. Here stood four or 


, 


Ficure 110. Lower Parr or Two Piruot 1n Sipe oF STREAM-BED 


five huge vessels within a comparatively small area; fragmentary remains of badly damaged 
walls here and there led to the conclusion that these jars had once stood in rooms of houses 
built in this quarter. No pottery of any consequence was found about them, and there was 
little evidence to date them certainly; but one contained a narrow whetstone and two small 
stone spools or pestles of a characteristic Early Helladic type, and there is consequently 
no reason to doubt their Early Helladic date. Three of the five were preserved only in their 
lower part (Fig. 110), but two were so nearly complete that their dimensions could be — 
measured fairly accurately. They were made of coarse brick-red clay, had a small flat base, 
broad egg-shaped body, narrow neck, and a thick wide rim. No. 1 had a height of ca. 1.75 
m. and its greatest diameter was 1.15 m. No. 2 was more globular in shape with a diameter 
of 1.30 m. and a height of more than 1.50 m. No. 4, which contained the stone objects men- 
tioned above and was probably originally as large as Nos. 1 and 2, had a hole in the centre 
of its small flat bottom. The aperture was closed with a lead stopper — evidently a device 
for draining the jar without tipping it over. The neck was very narrow, with an inside diam- 
eter of 0.334 m. 

The pithoi found in the houses on the hill were all smaller than those in the stream bed, 
but some of these also were very large vessels. In all cases, where evidence was preserved, 
the base was extremely small, though it did not actually terminate in a point. These pithoi 


THE POTTERY 119 


were fitted into hollows dug into the floor to receive them, and sometimes packed with 
stones, so that they stood firmly and securely and did not depend on the narrow base alone 
for support. 

One jar from the House of the Pithoi, though utterly shattered, was practically complete 
and has been reconstructed as shown in Figure 111 (No. 575, the second in the row, counting 
from the right, in Figure 10).! It is o.gt m. high and has as its greatest diameter 0.66 m. 
Its small, well-shaped, raised base has a diameter of only 0.155 m. The rim is flat, 0.04 m. 


Ficure 111. Earty Hexiapic Piruos 


wide, and the outside diameter of the mouth 1s 0.41 m. There are no handles, but rather 
more than two thirds of the way up from the bottom are four large bosses, not very sym- 
metrically spaced around the pithos. These bosses are roughly made, with a projection of 
0.025 m. to 0.03 m. and a diameter of 0.05 m. to 0.06 m. Their purpose was no doubt to 
facilitate the lifting of the pithos by preventing a rope from slipping when tied around the 
body. The pithos is light buff in color with patches of pink here and there; it has no paint 
and no other decoration. 

Another example (No. 576, Fig. 112: No. 4 in the row in the House of the Pithoi) ” 
is unfortunately not completely preserved, lacking its upper part and rim. As the vessel 

1 No. 575. Coarse pink clay, lightening to buff at surface, 


2No. 576. Coarse clay, gray at core, brick-red at surface; coated with thin black glaze, with reddish mottling here and 
there. 


120 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


stood in the house, the rim must have reached almost the modern surface of the ground 
and had been broken and carried away by the plough. This pithos, which was much larger 
than the preceding, has an extreme width of 0.81 m. and must have been more than 1.20 m. 
high. The base again is very small, having a diameter of only 0.15 m. The jar is finished in 
the glazed style, being completely coated with reddish brown paint, deepening here and 
there to brownish black; the paint is badly crackled and much has worn away. The upper 
part of the vessel is decorated with two plastic horizontal bands which bear slanting impres- 
sions of a thumb or of a blunt instrument made in such a way as to give the effect of the 


Ficure 112. Earty Hevtiapic Piruos 


twisted strands of a rope. Four large bosses, approximately evenly spaced, interrupt the 
lower rope band and the appearance of this arrangement supports the explanation suggested 
above of the purpose of the bosses. The walls of the pithos are not absolutely uniform in 
thickness, varying from ca. 0.01 m. to nearly 0.02 m.; but it is altogether a very well-made 
pot. | 

That pithoi of other shapes occurred is shown by the fragment illustrated in Figure 113 
(No. 122).! Here we have only a small piece of a huge flat rim (averaging 0.075 m. wide), 
indicating a mouth with an outside diameter of ca. 0.63 m. The body of the vessel seems to 
have swelled out broadly, and it was evidently a container of great capacity. Near the rim 
is preserved a small horizontal loop handle, not strong enough to have been of material 
help in lifting the pithos. From it two raised rope bands run off in either direction, slanting 
slightly upward toward the rim. There must have been other handles lower down on the 


‘No, 122. Coarse clay, which throughout has the color of burnt brick. 


THE POTTERY 


body — perhaps this is an early example 
of the type common in later periods in 
which several tiers of small handles are 
arranged in vertical rows. The pithos 
was originally coated with good black 
glaze which has been rubbed off for the 
most part. 

In Figure 114 are illustrated several 
fragments of rims of various large ves- 
sels to show some of the typical stamped 
and incised patterns which frequently 
occur as decoration. As may be seen they 
are of many different types and styles 
and include some of rather elaborate 
design. No. 1 is a fragment from the side 
of a flat pan. Height 0.04 m. It is made 
of coarse clay, gray at the core, pink 


Figure 113. FraGMenT oF Rim or Pirtuos, Earty 
Hettapic Pertop, No, 122 


Ficure 114. FracMents or Rims or Larce Vesseis, Farty Heviapic Pertop 


{21 


ihe?) THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


toward the surface. The floor of the vessel is 0.02 m. thick, and the bottom is very rough 
as in the baking pans mentioned above (p. 117). The rim is broad and thick (0.038 m. 
wide); its flat top bears two rows of deep wedge-shaped impressions, one along each side, 
stamped so as to leave a raised zigzag ridge or band between them. 

No. 2 is a very curious piece, apparently from the rim of a very large vessel, which had 
a plump body narrowing to a relatively small mouth. The exact shape is uncertain, but it 
was of extremely heavy thick fabric. The clay is coarse, brick-red in color. The rim is flat 
on top; along its outer edge it is decorated with a band of concentric half circles, which seem 
to have been incised, not stamped. The number of these half circles in each group varies 
from a minimum of three to a maximum of six. The incision is not very deep, and there 
is no evidence to show whether or not it was ever filled with white pigment. 

No. 3, of coarse buff clay, gray at the core, is a fragment from a circular pan similar to 
the original of No. 1, but smaller. Height of pan, 0.047 m.; thickness of floor, 0.016 m.; of 
side wall, 0.02 m. The bottom is rough, as in the case of the rugose pans. The top of the rim 
is flattened; its decoration is similar to that of No. 1, consisting of two rows of triangular 
impressions so arranged as to leave a narrow zigzag line in relief between them. 

No. 4, a piece of a large, heavy, circular pan, is made of coarse clay, which varies from 
brick-red to gray in color. The floor is 0.035 m. thick, and the bottom is rough as in the fore- 
going examples. The height of the pan was 0.06 m., and the rim, which is rounded on top, 
is 0.043 m. wide. Its whole upper surface is covered by a belt of twelve or more rather fine 
parallel zigzag lines in relief, which almost give the effect of a herring-bone pattern. The 
relief is low and was obtained apparently by incising away the background; though the 
execution is careless, the effect is not displeasing. The lines in relief are lightly polished. 

No. § is a broad lug or solid handle from a vessel of some size; it is made of coarse, porous, 
brick-red clay. The chief interest of the piece is in the treatment of the edge of the lug, which 
bears a series of crude irregular impressions, giving a scalloped effect. 

No. 6 seems to be a fragment from the side of a large pithos, with walls 0.01 m. to 0.015 
m. thick. It is made of coarse gray clay, pink toward the surface, which contains a few 
particles of yellow mica. Around the body of the pithos ran a raised horizontal band, ca. 
0.065 m. wide and 2 mm. to 3 mm. high, decorated with a double row of connected spirals. 
The technique is similar to that of No. 4: the spirals are formed by fairly broad lines in 
relief, the background between them having been somewhat crudely incised or cut away. 
In spite of its rather crude execution, this piece is noteworthy, since the spiral is, to say the 
least, exceedingly rare among the decorative motives of the Early Helladic Period. Above 
and below the raised decorated band the surface of the pithos was coated with a thin wash 
of brownish black glaze, which shows only the slightest traces of lustre. It seems to have 
been applied with a brush ca. 0.025 m. wide. 

No. 7, of coarse gray clay, fired to pink at the surface, is a fragment of a large vessel, 
probably a pithos, decorated in a manner similar to that of the preceding and No. 4. The 
vessel bore a raised horizontal band (height 2 mm.) on which, between broad borders, runs 
a pattern of parallel zigzag lines in relief. The lines are fairly fine, but rather widely spaced; 
in this case the background seems not to have been cut away, but to have been stamped 
or impressed by a blunt implement. 


tie BOTTI Ys 12 


Go 


F. MiscELLANEOUS OTHER WARES 


Several vases were found in the course of the excavations which do not fit especially well 
into any of the above groups, nor indeed do they agree with one another. They have ac- 
cordingly been left for consideration in the present section as miscellanea. 

No. 277, Fig. 115.' A jug with flat base, upright oval body, high splaying neck, wide 
mouth, basket handle, and a tubular spout from the side, following the axis of the handle. 
The neck and the handle are almost completely preserved, as is also the base; a large part 


Ficure 115. Juco wirH Spour anp Basket Hanpie, Earty 
- Hetapic Pertop, No. 277 


EN. aL 
of the side is missing, and only the attachment of the spout remains; the missing parts have 
been restored in plaster. The pot was found on the floor of the House of the Pithoi and can- 
not, therefore, be considered earlier than the third phase of the Early Helladic Period. It is 
of coarse, thick manufacture, but the surface is covered with a heavy red slip which is 
brilliantly burnished, though not in exactly the same style we have seen in the polished 
wares of Group A. This pot seems much cruder and inferior in technique. The handle is 
decorated with a row of incised chevrons done in broad shallow lines. Height 0.16 m.; to 


'No. 277. Coarse red clay, slightly gray at the core. 


124 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


top of handle, 0.20 m.; greatest diameter 0.128 m.; diameter of mouth along handle, 0.098 
m.; transversely, 0.119 m. 

No. 245. Fragment of a shallow dish or plate with a large flat base, and short sides 
spreading widely. It is made of coarse brick-red clay, containing many particles of stone. 
The surface is coated with a thick reddish brown-black slip, brightly polished, much as in 
the case of the preceding example. The base seems to have had a diameter of ca. 0.16 m. 
The sides are from 0.04 m. to 0.05 m. wide (from the base) and end in a plain rounded rim. 
The plate was only ca. 0.027 m. high. 

No. 250, Fig. 116.1 A small well-made cup on 
a low stem with fairly broad foot. The foot is 
hollowed out below and is pierced by three 
regularly spaced round holes, giving an open- 
work effect. The cup itself has a rounded body 
with a splaying rim which makes the mouth rela- 
tively large (diameter, ca. 0.085 m.). There is one 
sturdy, broad, flat, loop handle, which rises well 
above the rim. The cup, though not of fine fabric, 
has been finished with care. Its surface is slipped, 
brownish in color on one side, burnt to a black on 
the other, and everywhere well polished. A good 
many particles of mica appear in the clay. 

The chief interest of this cup lies in its decora- 

Ficure 116. Cup on Srem, wir Incisep tion, which consists of a broad zone about the 

Dees cee Soe Eee: middle of the body, marked off by three, far from 

parallel, incised lines above and a single line below. 

The zone is filled with cross-hatching produced by irregular oblique incised lines, and the 

ground of the uneven diamonds and half diamonds thus formed is punctuated by small 
dots impressed with a sharp-pointed instrument. 

A zone of similar decoration runs around the foot, divided roughly into three panels 5 
the holes mentioned above. Here the pattern is not cross-hatching, but merely a series of 
unequal upright strips, separated by incised lines and filled with punched dots. No trace 
remains to show whether or not the incisions were once filled with white. The cup is attrac- 
tive in shape and effect, in spite of the careless hand evident in the execution of the pattern. 

No. 112, Fig. 117.” Lower part of a goblet or a chalice standing on a high stem with 
broad, bell-shaped foot. It is a product of coarse clay, practically unscreened; but the surface, 
though it has no marked polish, is smooth and probably lightly slipped. The stem shows 
traces of the paring by which it was whittled down to its final form. The color is a dirty 
reddish brown, blackened here and there as if by fire. The most remarkable peculiarity of 
the vessel is that the bowl (the upper part of which is unfortunately missing) bears at least 
two horizontal rows of small crosses which are slit quite through the walls. In the lower belt 


No. 250. Ht. 0.093 m.; greatest diameter, 0.089 m.; D. of base, 0.051 m.; D. of mouth, 0.085 m. Clean buff clay, but 
carbonized here and there to gray or even black. Contains some fine particles of mica. 

2 No. 112. Ht. as preserved, 0.115 m.; greatest diameter, 0.13 m.; D. of base, 0.092 m. Clay coarse, gray at core, changing 
here and there toward the surface to pink, but much blackened by carbonization. 


THE POTTERY 125 


were ten such crosses fairly evenly: spaced; in the next the number was increased to eleven 
or twelve. The crosses measure on the average 0.02 m. by 0.02 m., having their arms ap- 
proximately equal. Since they penetrate through to the interior, the chalice could certainly 
not have been intended to hold liquids; perhaps it was some kind of a brazier or incense 
burner. 

It is not especially like any other fabric of the period from Zygouries; but since it was 
found beneath one of the large pithoi which, as mentioned above, were excavated in the side 
of the small gully formed by the stream that flows past the site, and seemed undoubtedly 
to be of Early Helladic date, its attri- 
bution to the same period is almost surely 
correct. 


Mipp.te He tvapic PEeriop 


As was the case with the architectural 
remains, pottery of the Middle Helladic 
Period also proved very scanty at 
Zygouries. It occurred chiefly in the west 
central part of the hill, where the three 
graves described above (p. 39 f.) were 
likewise discovered, at the south end of 
the settlement close to the surface of the 
ground, and in the deeper strata below 
the potter’s shop in the eastern scarp of 
the mound. In the latter place was also 
~ uncovered the wall of a building dating 
from Middle Helladic times. A few scat- 
tered sherds appeared elsewhere on or 
just beneath the surface of the soil at 
various points in the settlement. The finds of pottery are thus, though meagre, nevertheless 
sufficient to make it certain that the site was occupied in the Middle Helladic 'Period; but 
the occupation must have been on a small scale — hardly more than a hamlet succeeding 
the prosperous Early Helladic village. 

The pottery fits into the classification adopted in the report of the excavations at 
Korakou (B.S.4., XXII, pp. 180 ff.; Korakou, pp. 1§ ff.) and will be described in the same 
order. Some of this ware seems still to have been shaped by hand, but the great majority 
of the pots were clearly thrown on the potter’s wheel, as appears from the regular marks of 
rotation often visible on the interior surface. 


Ficure 117. FRAGMENTARY GOBLET OR CHALICE, 
Earty Hettapic Pertop, No. 112 


A. Minyan Ware 
I. Gray Minyan. 
This variety occurred in all the areas named above, though in extremely scanty quan- 
tity. The material consists only of shattered and scattered fragments, very few of which 
seem to belong to the same vase; and it accordingly proved impossible to put together a 


126 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


single pot. Some of the sherds, very thick and crude and with rough irregular surface 
inside, appear to be from pots made by hand. But the best have the regular shape and fine 
thin walls of standard Minyan ware and were certainly formed on the wheel. The color 
is curiously light for gray Minyan ware and some of these pieces seem almost to form an 
intermediate step between Gray and Yellow Minyan. So far as could be observed, none of 
these vases at Zygouries were made in moulds, which Professor Persson, from the evidence 
brought to light at Asine, has concluded was the usual process of manufacture of Minyan 
Ware (Bulletin de la Société Royale des Lettres de Lund, 1924-1925, pp. 67 f.). 


Figure 118. YeLLtow Minyan Gos et, No. 106 


The shapes chiefly represented among our fragments are large, deep cups or bowls with 
well-rounded body, splaying, flat rim and two strap handles forming a small loop (Korakou, 
Fig. 22, p. 16); or similar cups with sharply angular profile of side. Flat bases seem to be 
universal, and this ware in general looks as if it might be of a fairly early type, closely re- 
sembling that from Gonia.' Goblets on a ringed stem must have been extremely rare as 
only one such stem was found. 

The total number of fragments reached only a few hundred. 


II. Argive Minyan. 


Hardly more than a dozen sherds came to light, one of which, from Tomb IV, has al- 
ready been mentioned (p. 41). : 


1 Unpublished. Only a preliminary account of the excavations at Gonia has appeared (4. 7. A., 1920, p. 7), but the 
detailed report is awaiting publication. 


hE POTTERY A? Oe 


Ill. Yellow Minyan. 

Although considerably more common than Gray 
Minyan, this fabric too was comparatively scanty at 
Zygouries. It had the same general distribution, but 
most of it came from the deep pits in the eastern edge 
of the hill. The shapes represented are those familiar 
from other contemporary sites, chiefly cups or bowls 
with flat splaying rim, and goblets on a stem. | 

No. 106, Fig. 5, Height, OI ha diameter, O.1§2 Figure 119. Stem or YELLow Minyan 
m. Goblet, practically complete, from the pit north of | G0#t®™ No. 307, From Toms XXII 
the Potter’s Shop. The shape is similar to that of a cup found by Schliemann in the Sixth 
Shaft Grave at Mycenae (Furtwangler and Léschcke, Mykenische Thongefasse, Pl. X, No. 
48 = F.H.S., 34, 1914, p. 136, Fig. 10), though it has merely a broad raised base instead 
of a stem. There is the usual angle at the shoulder and the high flattened rim with fairly 


6 


Figure 120. Coarse YELLow MinyAan Ware, Stems or GOBLETS 


128 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


sharp edge. On each side is a high handles flat for most of its length, but slightly con- 
cave at its highest point. 

The vase is made (on the wheel) of coarse yellowish buff clay; its surface is slipped, but 
not very smoothly polished. 

No. 307, Fig. 119.’ Stem of a goblet. It has a rather broad foot with the edge turned 
slightly up, and the centre of the bottom hollowed out. The fabric is not especially good and 
the fragment is mentioned here only because it had been used in its present condition as a 
lid and was found actually in place covering jug No. 304 (PLate XIV, No. 3) in Tomb XXII. 

Though stemmed goblets in Gray Minyan ware were exceedingly rare, as remarked 
above, a good many stems of such vessels in the Yellow Minyan technique camé to light. 
Some of these, specimens of which are shown in Figure 120, are of particularly coarse crude 
fabric and must have supported goblets of awkward size and weight. These stems are 
usually ringed, sometimes with narrow grooves almost like incisions, sometimes with 
broad channels; in the number of rings there is also variety, some specimens having only 
one, others having eight or more. The surface is often rough and irregular, and never very 
highly polished. Archaic-looking stems of this kind have been found at many Middle Hel- 
ladic sites, including Mycenae, but no complete goblet has yet been recovered in this 
coarse heavy fabric. 

No. 119. Small cup, well made and properly fired, of clean light buff clay. The regularity 
of the shape and the even thickness of the thin walls are due to the wheel. The vessel is 
really a sort of bowl with rounded bottom, the curve of which continues upward to the 
sharply edged straight rim without angles. There were originally two “high-swung”’ 
handles, similar to the single one on certain cups from Korakou (Korakou, p. 19, Fig. 26); 
both are missing. 


B. MaTrPpaInrED WARE 


Mattpainted ware, which had the same distribution as that of the preceding group, was 
considerably more common than Minyan ware, though by no means abundant. The three 
classes of this group, all of which are characterized by their decoration with patterns in 
dull lustreless paint, are represented chiefly by fragments; but six complete pots were found 
in the Middle Helladic tombs and merit illustration here. 


I. Coarse Style. 

A few typical sherds are shown in Figure 121. The decoration usually takes the form 
of simple linear patterns in broad careless lines, a few bands around the body, the base of 
the neck, and just below the rim, the upper part of the body often being marked off as a 
zone in this way. Occasionally these bands are elaborated by a line of attached festoons 
(Fig. 121, Nos. 1, 2, and 7), and sometimes geometrical figures such as diamonds or spirals 
appear (Fig. 121, Nos. 4 and 7). The zone is frequently divided by vertical lines into a series 
of panels or metopes (Fig. 121, No. 1). There are also a few scanty remnants of a freer style 
of decoration in which grotesque animals or birds with enormous claws are represented 
(Fig. 121, No. 3). 

* No. 307. Pink clay, pretty well refined; whitish slip. 


THE POTTERY 129 


No. 580, Fig. 122. Height 0.19 m.; greatest diameter, 0.163 m. Large coarse jug, about 
one half of which is preserved. The vessel is crudely made, apparently not on the wheel, 
with thick heavy walls, showing in the fractures a coarse pinkish gray biscuit containing 
many small stones. The surface is slipped and fairly smooth, though irregular. The pot 


Figure 121. SHerps or Martrpainrep Ware, Crass I 


Figure 122. Juc, Marrpainrep Ware, Ficure 123. Cup wira Sipg Hanpie 
; Crass I, No. 580 _ Marrpatntep Ware, Crass J, No, 
94, FRoM Toms I 


Figure 124. Smatt Juc, Marreainrep Ficure 125. Jue wirs Curaway Neck, Marrpaintep Wa 


RE, 
Wars, Crass I, No 95, rrom Toms I Crass I, No. 96 


THE POTTERY 131 


has a flat base, an oval body, and a low neck which may have ended in a projecting spout. 
A round handle runs from the widest part of the body to the neck. 

The decoration is the typical one described above. There is also a line of paint running 
down the handle and dividing into two below it, each end curving off to the side. 

Tomb I produced the two following small vases in this style: 

No. 94, Fig. 123.1 Small cup of very coarse careless make. It has a high thick loop handle, 
both ends of which spring from the rim on one side. This type of cup with a side handle is 
especially characteristic of the Middle Helladic Period, occurring in Minyan ware as well as 
in the present group. The slightly raised base is badly made, and the cup leans to one side. 
The decoration consists of three irregular bands of black paint around the upper part of the 
body, and a similar broad line along the top of the handle. 

No. 95, Fig. 124. Height, 0.13 m.; greatest diameter, 0.092 m.; diameter of rim, 0.049 m. 
A small jug, almost a bottle in shape. Standing on a flat bottom, it has a rounded body, 
high cylindrical neck, and a splaying rim, with one fairly broad flat vertical handle grooved 
on its upper side. The fabric is good — clean buff clay, with surface smoothly slipped; un- 
fortunately it has suffered much damage. The decoration consists of the usual zone, marked 
off by a pair of bands above and below, in which a figure, done in broad ribbon lines and 
composed of a much simplified pair of connected spirals, 1s three times repeated. The chip- 
ping away of the surface of the pot has almost obliterated the pattern, which has, however, 
been intensified and made more easily recognizable in the drawing. A broad band of paint 
along the outside of the rim and two lines down the top of the handle complete the decora- 
tion. The flat bottom is not true, and the jug stands at an oblique angle. 

No. 96, Fig. 125. Height, 0.20 m.; greatest diameter, 0.147 m. Part of one side missing. 
This larger jug from the west part of the hill also deserves to be illustrated here. It is a much 

better pot than the two preceding, showing no little care in its manufacture. It has a buft 

biscuit, hard and well fired; and the surface is slipped and polished. The jug has a flat base, 
round body, and almost cylindrical neck, which is carried up to form a spout on one side. 
A heavy round handle swings down from the back of the neck to the broadest part of the 
body. 

Two ribbon bands of dull violet-black paint around the middle of the vase and a similar 
pair at the base of the neck mark off a zone of decoration which is divided into four metopes 
by groups of parallel vertical lines, alternately three and four in number. The panels, which 
are all of different sizes, were left blank. The band marking the top of the zone has a fine 
wavy line bordering it below. Two plain bands follow the line of the rim, and the front of 
the spout bears two finer vertical lines. A single ribbon line runs along the upper side of the 
handle, separating into two curved ends below. 

The base is not perfectly flat, and the jug does not stand well. 


Il. Fine Style. 

The material is not abundant and does not offer a great deal that is new. This class 
consists chiefly of small pots made on the wheel, with thin walls and pretty regular shape. 
The clay is most commonly greenish yellow, greenish gray, or a light buff in color. A few 


1 No. 94. Ht. 0.07 m.; greatest diameter, 0.08 m.; D. of mouth, 0.075 m. Coarse pinkish clay; greenish gray slip. 


132 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


typical sherds are illustrated in Figure 126. The patterns are simple enough, mostly linear 
with some geometrical figures, again spirals, diamonds, etc., and occasionally more am- 
bitious efforts to represent birds (Fig. 126, No. 7) or flowers. This ware differs not a little 


11 


Ficure 126. Typicat SHerps, Marrpainrep Ware, Cuass II 


from that of Class I in its style of execution; the lines are much finer and the whole effect 
is more delicate. Though occasionally a pot of intermediate style may come to light, it is 


usually easy to distinguish the two at a glance. The jug described above (No. 96) eae . 


perhaps be regarded as such a transitional piece. : 
The shapes recognizable from the fragments include cups of four distinct kinds: vessels 
with flat bottom, slightly outcurving sides, and a single vertical handle (Keftiu shape; 


THE POTTERY 33 


Fig. 126, No. 1); similar cups, but with incurving sides, relatively smaller bottom, and a 
raised base (Fig. 126, No. 2); goblets on a stem (Fig. 126, No. 3; cf. Furtwangler and 
Léschcke, Mykenische Vasen, Pl. XXIV, Figs. 176 and 177); and round-bottomed cups 
with a side handle (a handle, Fig. 126, No. 11; a complete cup, PLare XIV, No. 2). Several 
spouts seem to belong to small jugs, and fragments of necks (Fig. 126, Nos. 5 and 7) are 
no doubt from vessels of the same kind. 

Three complete pots from Tomb XXII fall into this class and may be described here: 

No. 304; PLate XIV, No. 3. Height, 0.153 m.; greatest diameter, 0.12 m.; diameter of 
mouth, 0.087 m. This is a small jug which has a clumsily made raised base, fairly well 
formed body, broad neck and wide mouth, and the usual curved strap handle. At the point 
where the latter joins the rim is a flattened “rivet head.” The pot is made of pretty well 
sifted greenish gray clay and is adequately fired. The surface is slipped and smooth, but not 
polished. The decoration is carried out in dull black paint, a simple band of which runs 
around the base and the rim. The regular zone on the upper part of the body is delimited 
above and below by three bands, the central one being much broader than the other two. 
The zone itself is empty of decoration except for a row of carelessly applied hooks or dashes 
just below the upper border. Along the top of the handle are two broad bands of paint which 
terminate abruptly at the lower end of the handle. 

This jug was found in Tomb XXII, with its mouth still tightly closed by the stem of a 
Yellow Minyan goblet, which had been made to serve as a lid. 

No. 305; Pirate XIV, No. 1. Height, 0.088 m.; greatest diameter, 0.082 m.; diameter of 
opening, 0.06 m. A small jug, similar to the preceding in shape, made of fine pinkish buff 
clay, with very thin walls, well shaped and well baked. The surface was originally coated 
with a slip, and smoothly polished, but is now much worn. The decoration was effected 
with lustreless purplish paint in fine lines, which are now very indistinct and difficult to 
make out; in the drawing they have been considerably intensified. There is a single narrow 
band along the rim; at the base of the neck are three bands, the lowest of which carries a 
fringe of festoons. Below this, around the upper part of the body, is a simple linear decora- 
tion consisting of four units, not symmetrically spaced, each composed of a pair of connected 
spirals. Apparently the lower limit of the zone was not marked by a band; and there is no 
further ornament save a number of oblique cross lines on the handle. The delicate fine 
style in which this pot is finished makes it stand out among Mattpainted vases. 

No. 306; Piatt XIV, No. 2. Height, 0.052 m.; with handle (restored), ca. 0.08 m.; 
greatest diameter, 0.063 m. A small cup, similar in shape to No. 94 (Fig. 123), but of much 
finer fabric. It is made of well-purified greenish gray clay with thin walls, and is well baked. 
The loop handle rising from the rim on one side is deeply grooved. The decoration in dull 
black paint includes a single band along the rim, a line on the top and on each side of the 
handle, and the usual zone around the upper half of the body. The zone is bordered by three 
narrow ribbon lines below and a single broad band at the base of the neck. Around the upper 
part of the zone, or perhaps rather forming part of the upper border, runs a single narrow 
band, from which are suspended nine double festoons almost regular in size. 


134 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


III. Polychrome Style. 

There are no complete pots, sae indeed only a very few sherds were found. This is far 
and away the best and the most interesting of the Mattpainted fabrics and it is to be re- 
gretted that the material from Zygouries as well as from other Middle Helladic sites is still 


Figure 127. Typica, SHerps, Marrpaintep Ware, Ciass III (Nos. 1-8); AND MAINLAND 
Ware Coxaksponpine To Fasrics or M. M. III (Nos. 9-11) 


so scanty. The few fragments illustrated in Figure 127 seem to represent chiefly the panelled 
system of decoration, which is certainly the most favored in this style. The patterns them- 
selves are generally large figures, outlined in dull black (or gray) and filled in with red which 
is sometimes polished. The sherds from Zygouries give little evidence as to the nature of 


THE POTTERY 135 


these figures except in the case of Fig. 127, No. 2, where we seem to have a large lily-like 
flower with broad petals and a pair of stamens. 

All these pieces are from large pots; No. 2 from a deep basin with broad flat rim, the 
others mainly from jugs no doubt resembling those found by Schliemann in the Sixth Shaft 
Grave at Mycenae. 


C. Coarse WaRE FoR Domestic PuRPOSES 


Nothing of consequence belonging to this group was found at Zygouries. 


D. Matntanp WarE CorrESPONDING TO Fasrics oF MippLE Minoan III 


Not more than half a dozen sherds came to light. Three are shown in Figure 127, Nos. 
g to 11. No. 11, the spout of a small jug, is decorated in creamy white paint on a dark 
ground; No. 10, from an open cup or bowl, bears a well-drawn spiral in lustrous black glaze 
and shows also a pair of superposed lines in white; No. 9, with its extraordinarily shiny 
reddish glaze, recalls certain sherds of the same period from Korakou (Korakou, Piate III, 


No. 6). 


Late Hettapic PERiop 


In the Late Helladic Period, as already mentioned above, the settlement had apparently 
descended from the hill and spread out over the low ground to the east and west. Remains 
of houses — walls and floors, unfortunately much denuded — were found in both these 
quarters, accompanied by the usual broken pottery. On the hill itself, however, no evidence 
for any Mycenaean structures of size and importance came to light, except close to the 
eastern edge, where the large building, the lower story of which housed the Potter’s Shop, 
had probably extended some distance westward across the Early Helladic settlement 
~ (Houses D, A, and the north part of the House of the Pithoi). There must have been some 
sort of occupation, nevertheless, for Late Helladic potsherds were found in a light scattering 
on or just below the surface of the ground everywhere about the hill. Some grading had 
doubtless been carried out in Byzantine times and the central part of the mound cut down, 
but it hardly seems likely that the traces could have been so thoroughly removed if the Late 
Helladic settlement had occupied this section at all thickly. Only along the east scarp were 
there well-preserved remains of substantial buildings. 

The pottery as a whole is rather a mixed lot. It includes not a little fragmentary material 
dating from Late Helladic I and II, found chiefly along the east side of the site and in the 
deeper strata below the east terrace on which stood the Potter’s Shop. For the Third Late 
Helladic Period there are also a few vases and some shattered pottery from the same region 
and elsewhere on the hill, and especially from the trenches in the fields on the east and west. 
And finally there are the twenty-two pots from the two chamber tombs, and the magnificent 
collection of more than 1300 vases from the Potter’s Shop, forming two closed groups, each 
of which must be treated separately as a unit. 


LATE HELLADIC I 


Ware of this period was not especially abundant; only one small pot and a few sherds of 
vases decorated with painted designs will be shown here (Fig. 128). Nos. 1, 2, and 3, with 


136 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


well-drawn spirals bearing lines and dots added in white, are from “tea cups” of a favorite 
Early Mycenaean form (B.S. 4., XXV, 1921-23, Prare XXIII, a). Deep cups with flat 
bottom and slightly concave profile — the “‘Keftiu shape” — are also represented (Nos. 
4, 5, and 6); and there is one fragment of a filler or rhyton, ornamented with the character- 


istically mainland type of double axe (No. 7. Cf. for the pattern, B.S. 4., XXV, Plate 


Ficure 128. Typicat SHerps, Late Hewzapic I 


XLVII, h). And, finally, there should be mentioned a diminutive goblet on a stem (No. 
582; Fig. 128, No. 8) which with its two small loop handles is a popular shape in Late 
Helladic I; it is decorated with a frequently occurring linear design (cf. Korakou, p42, 
Fig. 57, No. 2). 


LATE HELLADIC II 


Pottery of this period came to light in somewhat greater quantity than that of Late 
Helladic I, but again the material consists only of shattered fragments, a few examples of 
which are illustrated in Figure 129. The Palace Style at its best is represented (Nos. 3, 4, 
and 5) by sherds from large jars of the amphora type, similar to those from Kakovatos, 
Pylos, and Mycenae. In the ivy leaves and lilies of Nos. 6, 7, and 8 we have some of the 


ite PO DRE ROY. 


137 


Ficure 129. Typicat SHerps, Late Hevrapic II 


THE EXCAVATIONS AT *ZYGOURIES 


138 


II avis TL] ATI ‘sausHg ivyolsay ‘of1 anon] 


42 


Eevee Leb BR 139 


Re) 


favorite naturalistic motives of Late Helladic II. The large fragments (Nos. 1 and 2) belong 
to typical deep bowls of the period, carrying a heavy ‘“‘wave”’ border in solid color just 
below the rim. The three-petalled flowers of No. 2 are no doubt a conventionalized adapta- 
tion from the Palace Style and may well have been borrowed from a vessel such as that from 
the Tomb of Aegisthus at Mycenae (B. 8S. 4., XXV, Puare L, a). 

Ephyraean Ware was likewise represented by a good many small pieces, a selection of 
which is offered in PLate XV. The usual motives occur here, lilies, nautilus, rosettes, etc., 
and these vases are identical in fabric with those from Korakou and elsewhere. Unfortu- 
nately only one of these attractive goblets was sufficiently preserved to permit a restoration. 

No. 276, Plate XV. A small goblet, restored (in the drawing by Mr. DeJong) from ten 
fragments; the base and one side are missing. Diameter, ca. 0.13 m. Fine pinkish buff clay; 
smooth buff slip. The decoration, carried out in reddish brown paint, much damaged and 
worn, consists of a large rosette with sixteen petals springing from a central ring; one such 
rosette is placed well up on the side midway between the two handles, and there is no doubt 
that the other side, which is missing, was similarly ornamented. At the base of each handle 
are three wavy parallel horizontal lines, and the goblet has no further decoration. 


LATE HELLADIC III 


We come now to Late Helladic III, and before we take up the groups from the Potter’s 
Shop and the chamber tombs a few words need be said about the pottery found elsewhere 
on the site. As appears from the illustrations, the usual Third Late Helladic types are repre- 
sented. Among these sherds those shown in Figure 130 (Nos. 1 to 5) clearly belong to the 
early part of the period, being very similiar to the ware found in the dromos of Tomb 505 
and elsewhere at Mycenae, technically of extremely good fabric, and decorated, though 
with decadent patterns, it is true, in glaze paint of excellent quality. No. 1, a broad cup, 
with its flat bottom and slightly concave sides terminating in a plain rim, may be ultimately 
derived from the “Keftiu shape,” and its decoration looks like an advanced step in the 
conventionalization of the pattern of ivy leaves so naturalistically rendered in Late Helladic 
I and II. 

The examples illustrated in Figure 131 (Nos. 1 to 12) must no doubt for the most part 
be assigned to a slightly later date, an intermediate stage in Late Helladic III, perhaps not 
a great deal later than the foregoing. Here are included a few pieces (Nos. 1, 2, and 3) on 
which added white patterns are used to accentuate the decoration; for this technique, so 
common on early ware of Late Helladic I, was revived in the course of Late Helladic II, 
though not in the same delicate style; and specimens are known from other Mycenaean 
sites (cf. B. S. 4., XXV, p. 43, Fig. 11, a). The other examples shown are quite similar, 
both in shapes represented and in decoration, to the intermediate wares from Mycenae 
and call for no special remarks. No. 10, a fragment from the side of a deep bowl, with its 
crudely drawn fantastic animal, recalls the “circus pot” from Tomb 521 at Mycenae,' 
which it matches very closely in style. 

The very latest type of Third Late Helladic Ware, the so-called “Granary Class,” 
differentiated by Wace at Mycenae (B. 8S. 4., XXV, pp. 40 f.), was not abundantly 


1 To appear in Mr. Wace’s forthcoming publication of the Tombs in Archaeologia. 


140 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


represented at Zygouries, though there were a few fragments of deep bowls similar to the 
latest vessels of that shape among the house deposits at Korakou (Korakou, p. 61, Fig. 85), 
which are contemporary with the Granary Class (cf. B. S. 4., XXV, Pp: 47; PLATE) Vos 


Figure 131. Typicat Suerps, Late Hewtapic III 


ANe toe ROME BAO e } 141 


Three pots, more or less nearly complete, were found in a trench dug through the fields 
to the northwest of the site, apparently belonging to the deposit on the floor of a house. 
They seem to fit into the intermediate stage. 

No. 313 (no illustration).1 Height, 0.143 m.; greatest diameter, 0.126 m.; diameter of 
mouth, 0.093 m. A small, well-formed jug with two handles, almost exactly similar in shape 
of body to the plain jugs with one handle from the Potter’s Shop. In the present instance 
the handles are of a distinctly different type, since they join the neck below the rim. The 


Figure 132. Two Larce Stirrup Vases, Late He tapic III 


jug is simple, decorated with broad bands of red paint. It is of good fabric and originally 
had a smoothly slipped surface, which is now badly weathered. 

No. 311, Figure 132.? Height, 0.408 m.; greatest diameter, 0.32 m. A large stirrup vase 
with flat base, regularly oval body, and a relatively enormous spout. The shape is quite 
different from that found in the Potter’s Shop and by no means so pleasing. The body 
is more elongated, the stirrup handle is higher, and the spout relatively much larger. The 
decoration is simple, consisting of the familiar horizontal belts of lines, and in the upper 
zone, thus marked off, a broad serpentine band running around the vase. The handles bear 
parallel lines along each edge, and on the disk two broad bands form a rude cross within a 
circle; while the base and rim of the spout are also marked with a band. 


1 No. 313. Fine pinkish buff clay, smooth surface, with buff slip, much worn away. 
? No. 311. Pink clay, well cleaned and well fired; buff slip. The bands on the body seem to have been painted while the pot 
was revolving on the wheel. 


142 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Ficure 133. Piatin Cup wirn HicH 
Hanb te, Late Hextapic III 


No. 312, Figure 133.! Height, 0.06 m.; including handle, 
0.13 m.; diameter, 0.079 m. A small plain cup or “dipper” 
with a high loop handle. It is rather thick and heavy, 
but of good fabric. The cup has an almost pointed bottom 
and is quite different in shape from the scoops found in 
the Potter’s Shop. 

There remains to be mentioned a large bath found on 
the floor of a late Mycenaean house which came to light 
near the bed of the stream in the low ground east of the 
hill. Unfortunately the vessel (No. 581, Fig. 134)? is in- 
complete, no piece of the rim being preserved, and its 
original depth cannot be determined; the preserved depth 


is 0.30 m. Measured on the bottom inside, the bath is 0.695 m. long and 0.316 m. wide. 
The sides splay outward and the ends are rounded. The walls have a thickness varying 
from 0.01 m. to 0.02 m., and the biscuit naturally shows a rather coarse clay. No bath of 
Mycenaean date from other sites on the mainland seems available for comparison. 


"No. 312. Clean pink clay; buff slip which has become powdery. 
* No. 581. Coarse clay, gray at core, buff at surface; cream-colored slip, mostly worn away. 


Ficure 134. Larce Basin or Batu, Late Hextapic III, No. 581 


THE POTTERY 143 


THE Potrer’s SHopP 


The material from the Potter’s Shop, which has been so frequently mentioned in these 
pages, represents a stock of at least 1,330 vases of twenty different shapes. Some sixty-five 
of these were found intact, approximately two hundred more have been put together as 
completely as might be; the remainder still lie in the fragments to which they had been 
reduced by the mass of débris which crashed down from the story above at the time the 
building was destroyed by fire. Of the pots from Room 13 and Room 33 all the fragments are 
preserved, and some further hundreds of vases could still be reconstituted by a mender 
with unlimited time and patience at his disposal. So far as the study of the pottery and the 
evaluation of the contents of the building are concerned, however, nothing further is to be 
gained by the restoration of endless duplicates, and this has consequently not been at- 
tempted. The material from Room 12, which contained the painted cylixes, was unfor- 
tunately not so complete, since the scarp of the hill cut through the middle of the room and 
much of the original contents had been carried down the slope. 

All the vases found in the building were clearly in unused condition, and some of the 
intact examples looked, when washed, as fresh as though they had been made yesterday. 
The number of pots with painted decoration was relatively small; the bulk of the stock 
comprised domestic utensils without ornament. In the following description we shall begin 
with the painted specimens. 


Painted Ware 
1. The cylixes (PLates XVI, XVII, and XVIII) were found chiefly in a great mass 


lying close against the west wall of Room 12. The painted examples are of excellent fabric; 
made of clean buff clay, which ranges from pinkish to greenish in tone, they are well shaped 
and well baked, though sometimes warped in firing because of their thin walls (or perhaps 
they are misshapen because of sagging during the time they were drying before being baked). 
The surface is covered with a good slip and often smoothly polished; in some cases, however, 
the slip has become powdery and wears away easily. 

No two are identical in size and proportions; for comparison the dimensions of four 
representative specimens may be given: 


No. 46. Height, 0.170 m.; diameter, 0.164 m.; diameter of base, 0.082 m. 
No. 47. Height, 0.186 m.; diameter, 0.175 m.; diameter of base, 0.081 m. 
No. 49. Height, 0.199 m.; diameter, 0.167 m.; diameter of base, 0.082 m. 
No. 67. Height, 0.174 m.; diameter, 0.151 m.; diameter of base, 0.08 m. 


Of these examples No. 46 is the smallest and No. 49 the largest in the whole collection. 
The shape is, however, practically uniform in all cases: the cylix has a large foot, flat under- 
neath, but with a deep circular hollow at its centre; and a high slender stem increasing in 
diameter as it rises; the body of the vessel first spreads out widely, then curves sharply 
upward to a neat rim. The rim is sometimes merely rounded off toward the exterior, some- 
times has a sort of delicate flange on the outside. There are always two half-round vertical 


loop handles. 


144 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


The patterns are executed in glaze paint of an excellent quality, red, brown, or black 
in color, or on some vases a combination of all three, one shading gradually over into 
another. The pattern is in every case painted on one side of the cylix only; this side was no 
doubt intended to be held away from the lips by the person drinking from the cup. The other 
side, which would not be visible to spectators, had no need of ornament and in accordance 
with this unvarying spirit of economy on the part of the potter, is always left without 
decoration. This principle of limiting the design to one side of a cup is not new at Zygouries, 
but was practised at many other places and in other periods (cf. Phylakopi, p- 114, panelled 
cups in the pre-Mycenaean Melian curvilinear style; also Korakou, p. 25, Mattpainted 
Ware). 

The design, which, whatever its nature, seems always to have been treated as a unit, 1s 
never repeated, but occurs only once and was clearly regarded as sufficient decoration for 
the side of the vase. In the case of the murex pattern, it is true, one pair was not always 
felt to be adequate; three shells often occur (Fig. 135, No. 2) and more rarely even four 
(Fig. 136, No. 6); but the unity of the whole design does not appear to have been lost from 
sight. This sparing use of decoration, which is further emphasized by the absence, without 
exception, of the painted bands so frequently employed in this period on the base, rim, and 
handle, is certainly due to deliberate restraint — a rather remarkable phenomenon in Late 
Mycenaean pottery. The general style of the decoration reminds one, even though dis- 
tantly, of Ephyraean Ware: there is the same chary use of paint, the same freedom from 
the fear of leaving empty spaces, the same employment of a design which might be said to 
form a single unit. Ephyraean Ware flourished at its best in Late Helladic II, and the 
sherds illustrated in PLare XV are clearly of that date; but examples are known which 
certainly carry the style down to the beginning of Late Helladic III (some specimens from 
early excavations at Cnossus which must be assigned to Late Minoan III are exhibited in 
the Museum at Candia; cf. B. S. 4., VI, 1899-1900, one sherd, p. 74, Fig. 18). Is it merely 
fanciful to see in these cylixes from Zygouries a still later survival of the same tradition? 

The mass of sherds recovered from Room 12 contained remains of at least seventy of 
these painted cylixes; but, as remarked above, much of the deposit in this room had been 
washed down the hillside, and it proved possible to put together only twenty-three examples 
in approximately complete condition. The painted side was, of course, preserved in many 
further instances, and the material is adequate for an interesting study of the development 
of patterns. The patterns which appear are fairly simple and, though a lively variety is 
produced by differences in arrangement and combination, may be traced back essentially 
to fewer than half a dozen basic motives. Indeed the great majority are clearly derived from 
two alone, namely, the murex and the octopus, though they appear in a much degenerated 
form. . 

The murex is the commonest of all the patterns, occurring on fully half the total number 
of cylixes found. A frequent arrangement shows a simple pair of these marine creatures as 
illustrated in Figure 135, No. 47; sometimes, perhaps, in order to make the design larger, 
the space between the two is widened and filled out with a few dotted circles, or with a 
vertical chain of loops, or some other border pattern (Fig. 136, 1 and 2). Occasionally two 
shells have been combined into one body with double extremities, as in Figure 136, No. 3. 


PAE ePOTTR RY 


Figure 135. Two Gosrers, Lare Hetvapic III, Nos. 47, 62, From THE Porrer’s SHoP 


aa) 


Figure 136. Varieties or Murex Desicn on GoBLets, FROM THE Porrer’s SHOP 


145 


146 THE EXCAVATIONS AT 2x GOURIES 


A similar combination, shown in Figure 136, No. 4, appears to have another element 
added, which will be discussed below. 

In a good many cases three murexes are represented side by side, sometimes all alike 
in a row (Fig. 136, No. 5), sometimes two symmetrically forming a pair, with the third 


added at one side (No. 62, Fig. 135). Rarely as many as four appear in the same design 
(Fig. 136, No. 6). 


= § 


‘a 
- § 


Figure 137. DEGENERATION or Ocropus Design on GoBLEeTs, FROM THE Porrer’s SHOP 


The long lower extremity of the murex is treated in a variety of ways. Sometimes it is 
left plain; more usually it is marked either by a vertical row of dots or strokes, by wavy 
horizontal dashes, or by chevrons one above the other, forming a sort of herring-bone 
pattern (Fig. 136, No. 6). This latter is worth noting, because it seems to have developed 
from a subsidiary motive, employed for filling ground, into a full-fledged main design on a 
few cylixes such as that shown in PLare XVI (No. 45). At least no other explanation sug- 
gests itself readily and the connection with the murex looks convincing. — 

The second basic motive, derivatives of which may be recognized on many of these 
vases, is the octopus. It is certainly a far cry from the realistic devilfish on certain pots of 
Late Helladic II (such as the jar from the Argive Heraeum,! etc.) to the much debased type 

‘A. f. A., XXIX, 1925, p. 425; found during the excavations of 1925. 


THE POTTERY 147 


represented here, but the family connection is unmistakable. It betrays itself chiefly in the 
eyes, by which it may be followed through many stages on its path of degeneration. The 
examples which have been assembled in Figure 137 illustrate well the passing of the octopus. 
In Nos. 1, 2, and 3 he is still easily recognizable, though his body has become a mere con- 
vention; the tentacles are still preserved, though the upper pair on each side have been 
joined into a single broad one; and the large eyes, each with its pupil clearly indicated, 
bespeak their origin in no uncertain terms. In Nos. 4 and 5 we have reached a more ad- 
vanced stage: the upper tentacles have disappeared and have been replaced by a formal 
tripartite pattern of concentric half-circles; the lower pair of arms on each side have been 
combined into one, but the eyes still remain, as circles enclosing a large dot, quite meaning- 
less in their present context. In No. 6 the circles have been moved close together and have 
lost their dots; in No. 7 they have become spirals, incorporated fairly successfully in the 
main design. Nos. 8 and g, finally, represent a development in a different direction, perhaps 
a more direct line, in which the upper tentacles are retained. In No. 8 the eyes have been 
flattened out into oval open spaces with no especial raison d’étre; and in No. 9 they appear 
again as spirals resembling the volutes of an Ionic column, and here the lower tentacles 
have been omitted. In all these later stages the origin of the motive would hardly be sus- 
pected if it were not for the intervening phases. 

The octopus seems also to have affected the double murex mentioned above (Fig. 136, 
No. 4), for here again we have a reminiscence of the prominent eyes. It may be doubted 
whether the potter or the painter of the vase realized that in these degenerate forms he was 
drawing an octopus or that his pattern had anything to do with an octopus; presumably 
it was to him nothing more than a conventional decorative design, copied so often that its 
origin had been quite forgotten. 

Independent motives other than the two discussed in such detail are very few. The 
pattern on No. 48 (PLare XVII), of which a second example was found, certainly has a 
different origin. The roots at the bottom and the knotty stalk indicate clearly that the 
ancestry of this conventional plant must be sought, far earlier, in the palm design on vases 
of the Palace Style; a comparison with the fragment illustrated as No. 3 in Figure 129 
above, or with the design on a large jar from one of the bee-hive tombs at Kakovatos (4th. 
Mitt., XXXIV, 1909, PLare XXII, 2) should be convincing. A further adaptation of this 
pattern may possibly be recognized in the curious cross-hatched figure decorating cylix 
No. 63 (PLate XVIII), though here the two side tentacles suggest that there has been 
a fresh complication through the addition of elements borrowed from the octopus design. 

The graceful shape of these pots (when not too badly warped), the fresh colors, and the 
deft hand with which the patterns, despite their obviously debased character, are treated, 
all contribute to make these cylixes from Zygouries a singularly attractive group, standing 
out distinctly among vases of the same general shape in the Third Late Helladic Period. 

A few examples in the same style are known from other Mycenaean sites: so, for example, 
in a cylix from Kalymnos now in the British Museum (Catalogue of Vases, Vol. 1, Part 1, 
Pl. XV, A 1008) we have exactly the same shape and the same type of patterns; specimens 
have also been recognized at Mycenae (B. S. 4., XXV, p. 108) and at Aegina (Ed¢.’Apy., 
1g10, Pl. VI, No. 5); also at Ialysus (Furtwangler and Léschcke, Myk. Vasen, Pl. XI, 72). 


148 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


2. From the same mass of sherds which produced the painted cylixes came a single 
example of a jar with three handles, of a kind usually known as the ‘“‘amphora type,” No. 
50, Prare XIX.' Height, 0.21 m.; greatest diameter, 0.21 m.; outside diameter of mouth, 
0.118 m.; of foot, 0.07 m. This is a small elegantly shaped jar with a flat ring-base, hollow 
underneath, and a shapely body rising from a slender stem; the broad neck splays outward 
to end in a wide mouth. On the upper curve of the body are three vertical loop handles, 
not spaced with absolute symmetry. The technique is excellent and the vase has a smoothly 
slipped surface. 

The decorative medium is a good brown glaze, deepening here and there to black. The 
ornament consists of broad bands around the stem, with fine parallel lines between; an 


Ficure 138. Sranp ror Cooxine Por, No. 523, 
FROM THE Porrer’s SHOP 


upper zone, which is marked off by similar bands, is bordered by festoons above and below, 
and carries as a central feature a horizontal belt of irregular circles. Some of these circles 
were made with one stroke of the brush, which resulted in overlapping ends; others were 
made with two half-circular strokes, overlapping twice. Above the upper band, bordering 
the zone, is a belt of four fine lines, then comes a solid coat of color covering the exterior of 
the neck. The top of the rim is unpainted, but there is a broad band inside along the edge. 
The handles are coated with paint, and their attachment to the body of the vase is encircled 
by a ring. This simple decoration is reminiscent of the style found at Tell el Amarna, but 
the system of broad bands and fine lines is a familiar one almost throughout the whole of 
Late Helladic III. 


* No. 50. Finely levigated buff clay, smooth buff slip. The bands are very regular and even and were evidently carefully 
painted while the pot revolved on the wheel. 


THE POTTERY 149 


3. From Room 30 came a stand or support for a cooking vessel, likewise the only example 
of its shape from the Potter’s Shop, No. 523, Fig. 138. Height, 0.15 m.; diameter at top, 
0.1§3 m.; at bottom, 0.20 m. The stand is hollow, with a doubly curved profile and a flat 
rim sloping inward. It has no bottom; the sides are cut out so that they form three broad 
legs; they are somewhat misshapen as a result of accidents in firing, and their curve does not 
form a perfect circle. The vessel is, however, very well made, of fine pinkish buff clay, 
thoroughly baked, and has a smooth, slipped surface. The decoration is of the simplest, 
consisting merely of horizontal bands and a brush-line around the three arched openings 
in the side, all done in excellent red glaze- 
paint. 

The stand looks as if it were intended 
to support a small cooking pot over a 
charcoal fire, for which the openings in the 
side would provide sufficient air. But the | 
excellence of the fabric is in contrast with 
the rather coarse finish of the cooking 
vessels themselves. 

4. In Room 13 were found ten large, 
and three huge stirrup vases. Though made 
of unpurified clay, and having fairly thick 
walls, they are on the whole extremely well 
shaped, indeed with a touch of refinement 
in their lines. This shows itself especially 
in the slender base and the double curve 
of the side rising from it to the full swell- 
ing body of the pot. A stirrup vase offers 
at best an awkward problem ea ade ae re Stirrup Vase, No. 370, FROM Bis 
who wishes to make his product graceful; Porrer’s SHop 
it seems to me that little more could be 
done in this direction than has been achieved, despite the heavy fabric, in these 
ten smaller vessels from Zygouries. A comparison of No. 371 and the rather ugly 
oval pot (No. 311), with its disproportionately large spout and ungraceful flat base, 
found on the floor of the Mycenaean house west of the hill, illustrates what I mean 
(Pag. 132). 


These ten smaller vases are almost of a size, as may be seen from the following measure- 


ments showing the greatest variation: 


No. 370, Fig. 139. Height, 0.36 m.; greatest diameter, 0.32 m. 
No. 371, Fig. 132. Height, 0.382 m.; greatest diameter 0.322 m. 
No. 369 (No illustration). Height, 0.39 m., greatest diameter 0.332 m. 


‘In all these vases the top of the spout is about horizontal and rises to approximately the same level as the top of the disk 
of the handle — in a few instances a trifle higher. In No. 311 the top of the spout is much lower than the disk of the handle 


and is set with a distinct slope. 


150 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


No. 370 is the smallest of all and has also slightly the broadest base; No. 371 (Fig. 132) 
is among the largest; and No. 369 is the largest of all.! 7 ; 

The decoration is simple and practically identical on all ten pots. All have three belts 
of broad bands, one just above the base, one at the widest part of the body, and one at the 
shoulder; the only variation is that in some cases the middle belt consists of only two instead 
of the more usual three bands. The spout always has a ring of paint around the lip, and 


Ficure 140. Huce Stirrup Vass, No. 378, FROM THE Porrer’s SHop 


the handle on each side regularly bears a series of from three to six broad horizontal strokes. 
On the disk at the top of the handle is most frequently a spiral; but sometimes it carries 
two concentric circles about a dot. The upper part of the pot above the uppermost belt 
of lines is decorated in all cases exactly alike. Between the handle and the spout on each 
side is a simple three-petalled flower pointing downward, so arranged that one petal from 
each side continues around the base of the spout, usually forming a ring. (In two cases the 


"No. 370. Greenish buff clay— greenish on one side, more nearly buff on the other; not meticulously levigated. Slip of 
same color. Glaze red, shading to brownish black on the green side. 

No. 371. Buff clay in quality like that of No. 370. Reddish brown paint. 

No. 369. Good pinkish buff clay, smoother than that of No. 370 and No. 371. Red paint shading to brown. 


Do BerOuLER YS ISI 


petals from each side do not actually meet.) On the other side of the handle, away from 
the spout, are two similar flowers. 

On some vases the paint is mainly red, on others mainly black; but both generally occur 
on the same vase, the color changing from side to side, though not in accordance with a 
premeditated plan. 

The three huge pots are closely similar to the smaller in proportions and decoration, 
differing only in size. The largest of all has a height of 0.60 m. and a diameter, at its widest, 
of 0.485 m. The smallest of the three is 0.553 m. high and measures 0.473 m. in diameter 
KING. 373; Hig. 140).! 

The huge, thick handles are perforated at top and bottom and sometimes in the middle 
by numerous small holes — presumably to allow the biscuit to be thoroughly baked. In 
the case of the ten smaller vessels there are usually two holes each at top and bottom, some- 
times only one, and occasionally none. 


Unpainted Ware 


1. The great majority of the cylixes came from the deposit along the west wall of Room 
12, which, as already remarked above, was probably only a small part of the original con- 
tents of the room. Much had certainly been carried down the hill toward the east, and for 
this reason the material was not so complete as that from the other rooms in the building. 
Forty-four cylixes were put together more or less nearly complete; but a count of the stems 
made it clear that the total number of pots of this shape in the deposit reached three hun- 
dred, to which must be added fifteen specimens from the adjoining rooms of the shop. 

From the technical point of view they are very well-made pots. The clay, which is usually 
gray, greenish buff, or buff in color, was carefully levigated; the walls are often extremely 
thin; and the vases were thoroughly fired. During the process of manufacture a good many 
were more or less distorted in shape, partly no doubt on account of the thinness of their 
walls, and partly perhaps because, when great numbers were fired together, they had to be 
packed so closely in the kiln that they sometimes damaged one another by contact. The 
surface is coated with a good slip, and in the buff examples, which are much the best, is 
especially smoothly finished, in many cases having a beautifully uniform polish. The foot 
is slightly concave underneath and has a deep circular hole at its centre under the stem. 
There are three distinct varieties of shape: 

a. This is similar to the painted cylixes, with a graceful inward curve at the shoulder, 
two vertical loop handles, and a rim rolled slightly outward (Fig. 141).’ It is the commonest 
shape and occurs in a fairly wide range of size and proportions. The tallest example has 
a height of 0.181 m. and a maximum diameter of 0.172 m.; the smallest is 0.147 m. high and 
has a diameter of 0.168 m. Other proportions are represented by a height of 0.169 m. to 
a diameter of 0.172 m.; and a height of 0.16 m. to a diameter of 0.182 m. In almost all cases 
the greatest diameter slightly exceeds the height. The circular foot also varies in its 

1No. 373. Coarse clay, greenish yellow at surface, pinkish at core; buff slip. 


2 No. 453. Ht. 0.160 m. to 0.165 m.; D. 0.170 m.; D. of base, 0.079 m. Fine pinkish gray clay. Greenish gray slip which has 
become somewhat powdery. 


No. 452. Ht. 0.168 m.; D. 0.175 m.; D. of base, 0.078 m. Fine grayish buff clay; buff slip. 


5 


i=) 


THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Figure 141. Two Piatn Gosiets, Tyre a, rroM THE Potrer’s SHOP 


Figure 142. Two Pian Gosiers, Type 4, rrom THE Porrer’s SHOP 


FicureE 143. THREE Pain Gos.ets, Type c, FROM THE Potrer’s SHOP 


tHE POTTERY 153 


proportions, but not to a noteworthy extent; among the examples preserved it ranges 
in diameter from 0.07 m. to 0.084 m. 

6. The second type, which is almost as common as the first, differs from it chiefly in not 
having the graceful curve at the shoulder (Fig. 142).! The body, which spreads broadly, 
is more funnel-shaped, and the profile from the top of the stem to the lip is almost a straight 
line. The rim usually has no outward roll, but merely comes to a thin, almost sharp, edge. 
The two loop handles are of the same kind as in group a. This is a regular form of the 
Mycenaean cylix, familiar at practically all sites dating from Late Helladic HI (Korakou, 
p. 66, Figs. 94 and 95; B. S. 4., XXV, 1921-23, Pl. X, c). 

These cylixes at Zygouries do not differ markedly in size, but there is considerable 
variety in the proportions. The two tallest examples are 0.172 m. high; one has a diameter 
of 0.163 m., the other 0.176 m. The shortest specimen measures 0.152 m. in height and 0.172 
m. in diameter. Other proportions of height to greatest diameter, examples chosen at 
random, are 0.165 m. to 0.169 m., 0.160 m. to 0.170 m., 0.170 m. to 0.161 m. Here, too, the 
height is usually slightly less than the diameter of the cup. The foot is relatively smaller 
in this type than in type a, having a diameter ca.0.01 m. less on a pot of the same height; the 
measurements range from 0.064 m. to 0.07 m. 

c. The third type of cylix was far less numerous than the other two. It is a much smaller 
vessel with only one handle; the body has a sharp angle at the shoulder, then rises in a 
reverse curve to the rim, which is rolled outward (Fig. 143).2 Among the examples put 
together the largest (No. 185) is 0.111 m. high and has a diameter of 0.11 m.; the smallest 
(No. g1) has a height of 0.085 m. with a diameter of 0.105 m. 

2. About twenty cups with a single high handle were found in Room 12, only three of 
which have been restored. The cup (Fig. 144) * is a simple bowl on a flat base, with a huge 
broad, ridged handle extending in a loop high above the rim on one side. The weight of the 
handle makes it impossible for the cup to stand on its base; perhaps it was hung up by the 
loop. String marks usually appear on the bottom, showing how the vessel was cut off from 
the wheel when shaped. An average cup measures 0.065 m. high and 0.125 m. in diameter; 
the handle rises to a height of 0.15 m. 

3. Several small, flat, spreading cups of no uniform shape are for convenience grouped 
together here. One has an almost straight line of side (height, 0.038 m.; diameter, 0.109 
m.); one has a broadly splaying body which curves inward again toward its plain 
rim (No. 403; Fig. 145, No. 1; height, 0.043 m.; diameter, 0.115 m.); and a third is like 
the second, but has a rolled rim (No. 450; Fig. 145, No. 2; height, 0.034 m.; diameter, 
0.092 m.). 

4. In Room 13, near the southeast corner, were found approximately one hundred ex- 
amples of small shallow saucers, or lids, about one-fourth of which were removed intact. 


1 No. 463. Ht. 0.160 m.; D. 0.169 m ; D. of base, 0.064 m. Fine pink clay, smooth pinkish buff slip. 

2 No. 185. Ht. 0.111 m.; D. 0.11 m.; D. of base, 0,062 m. Fine pinkish clay, buff slip. 

No. g1. Ht. 0,085 m.; D. 0.105 m.; D. of base, 0.053 m. Fine buff clay, buff slip. 

No. 214. Ht. 0.09 m.; D. 0.11 m.; D. of base, 0.055 m. Fine buff clay, buff slip. 

3 No. 87. Ht. 0.067 m.; with handle, 0.15 m.; D. 0.128 m.; Width of handle, 0,033 m. Grayish buff clay and slip. 

No. 88. Ht. 0.066 m.; with handle, 0.138 m.; D. lengthwise, 0.135 m.; D. crosswise, 0.123 m.; Width of handle, 0.035 m 
Pinkish gray clay and slip. 


THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Ficure 144. Two Cups or Scoops wirh High HANDLES, FROM THE Porrer’s SHOP 


Ficure 14$. Two Smatt Cups anp A Scoop, FROM THE Potrer’s SHOP 


Ficure 146. Four SmMati Saucers or Lips, FROM THE Porrer’s SHop 


THE POTTERY 155 


They are all nicely turned vessels of good fabric (Fig. 146),! which differ not a little in size 
and proportions, but are all alike in having a hole pierced directly through the bottom. 
They have a small, flat base (the bottom of which is always marked by string lines; cf. 
Dawkins, 7. H. S., XXIII, 1903, p. 249, Fig. 2), spreading sides, with an angle at the 
shoulder, from which they rise almost vertically to the rim. The rim is often plain, often 
has a slight outward roll. There are no handles. In height these dishes range from 0.034 m. 
to 0.05 m.; in diameter, from 0.094 m. to 0.115 m. The surface is not smoothly finished. 

The purpose of these little utensils is not perfectly clear; they would serve very accept- 
ably as lids for jars of the type to be described in the next section; and the hole would per- 
mit the escape of steam when the Jar was used to boil liquids. 

5. From Room 13 came about twenty attractive little jars of good fabric, almost all 
made of greenish gray clay with thin walls (Fig. 147).2 They stand on a small flat base, 
have a well-shaped body, and a comparatively large mouth with upright rim. Instead of 
handles there are three symmetrically spaced vertical lugs, each pierced by a horizontal 
hole. The smallest jar is 0.094 m. high and has a diameter of 0.11 m.; the largest measures 
0.109 m. in height and 0.116 m. in diameter. The mouth varies slightly in size, ranging from 
0.077 m. to 0.085 m. in diameter, and would comfortably take a lid of the shape described 
in the preceding section. 

6. No. 386, Fig. 148.3 Height, 0.11 m.; diameter, 0.23 m.; diameter of bottom, 0.129 m. 
A low, bell-shaped jar with flat bottom, broad flanged rim, and two horizontal loop handles 
was the only example of its kind recovered. It is of a particularly good fabric with smoothly 
slipped surface, and the shape itself is attractive. The type is known from other Mycenaean 
sites. 

7. In Room 33 were recovered eight large jugs (Fig. 149).4 They stand on a small raised 
base, have a tall symmetrical body, high neck, and a splaying rounded rim. One large 
round handle swings down from the rim to the widest part of the body (or just above it). 
The fabric is much coarser than that of the preceding vases: the clay is by no means so well 
sifted and the surface of the pot is not so smoothly finished. But these are of course ordinary 
household utensils made for service, and fine fabric was not required. The eight examples 
are not identical in size, though the differences are not great: the smallest is 0.237 m. high 
and has a greatest diameter of 0.20 m.; the corresponding dimensions of the largest speci- 
men are 0.268 m. and 0.225 m.; but the former has a slightly wider mouth (0.109 m. as 
against 0.102 m. in diameter). 

8. Forty large basins were found, chiefly in the same room (33) in which the jugs were 
stored. They are of two different types. 


1 No. 173. Ht. 0.036 m.; D. 0.109 m.; D. of base, 0.033 m. Fine pinkish buff clay and slip. 

No. 162. Ht. 0.042 m.; D. 0.10 m.; D. of base, 0.03 m. Fine pink clay and slip. 

2 No. 130. Ht. 0.105 m.; greatest diameter, 0.117 m.; D. of mouth, 0.082 m.; D. of base, 0.044 m. Fine light buff clay and 
slip. 

: No. 223. Ht. 0.098 m.; greatest diameter, 0.109 m.; D. of mouth, 0.085 m.; D. of base, 0.048 m. Fine greenish gray clay 

and slip. 

3 No. 386. Fine buff clay and slip. 

‘No. 485. Ht. 0.27 m.; D. 0.217 m.; D. of mouth, 0.101 m.; D. of base, 0.079 m. Coarse buff clay, pink at core. 

No. 488. Ht. 0.25 m.; D. 0.201 m.; D. of mouth, 0.105 m.; D. of base, 0.074 m. Coarse grayish buff clay; greenish yellow 


surface. 


156 


THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Ficure 147. THREE SMALL JARS, FROM THE PorrTer’s SHOP 


Fictre 148. BELi-sHAPED JAR, FROM THE Porrer’s SHOP 


Figure 149. Two Larce Jucs, rrom THE Potrer’s SHOP 


Ee BO TR RY: 157 


a. Shallow vessels (Nos. 123 and 522, Fig. 150)! with low, neatly formed raised base, 
curving spreading sides, flanged flat rim, and two horizontal handles which are made of a 
flat strip of clay pinched out into a triangular shape. The fabric is not especially good and 
two of the basins have been badly distorted in shape, perhaps during the firing. Only four 
examples were found. The smallest is 0.10 m. high and has a diameter of 0.278 m.; the largest 
measures 0.125 m. and 0.31 m. in height and diameter respectively. 

6. Larger basins, generally of much better quality than those of the first group, with 
smoothly slipped surface (Fig. 151).? They seem to have been much more carefully made 
and are usually very regular in shape, rising from a low raised base (in some cases shaped 
with clean sharp lines), with broadly curved sides which bend inward to the rim. The rim 
is sometimes rounded off on top, occasionally flattened with a small flange on the outside. 
There are four comparatively slender round loop handles set horizontally and in most 
cases fairly symmetrically spaced. The basins show a considerable range in size: the smallest 
is 0.123 m. high, 0.405 m. in diameter, and stands on a base 0.148 m. wide; the corresponding 
dimensions of the largest are 0.148 m., 0.45 m., and 0.164 m. In one instance the base has 
a diameter of only 0.101 m. 

g. The shape of which examples came to light in greatest abundance in the shop is a 
deep bowl, almost a jar, of rather coarse fabric, but extremely regularly and well formed. 
No fewer than 661 specimens were found, the vast majority in Room 13, but more than 
one hundred in Room 33. They had been very badly shattered (the fabric seems to be a 
brittle one) by the débris fallen from above, and of this great number, established by a 
count of the bases, only thirteen were recovered intact (Fig. 152). 

These pots were almost all made of a porous, brick-red clay, well fired, with fairly thin 
shapely walls, curving from a small raised base to a flat, flanged rim, which slopes obliquely 
downward toward the interior of the vessel. There are two vertical flat loop handles. The 
surface bears only the thinnest kind of slip, if any, and is not polished, but the deep color, 
which often presents mottled variations, is not unattractive. Regular wheel marks appear 
in almost all cases. 

These pots were almost certainly intended to be employed as cooking vessels. They vary 
somewhat in size, profile, and proportions of base and mouth, but the dimensions do not 
differ greatly; the measurements of a few examples are worth recording: 


Height 0.174 m. O.1 70m: 0.165 m. Onna. Mm. 
Diameter of body 0.207 m. 0.203 m. 0.196 m. 0.186 m. 
Diameter of mouth Ops au. 0.184 m. 0.164 m. 0,178 m. 
Diameter of base 0.082 m. 0.069 m. 0.076 m. 0.068 m. 


1No. 522. Ht. 0.094 m. to 0.103 m.; D. 0.279 m.; D. of base, 0.099 m. Fine pink clay, buff at surface, buff slip. 

No. 123. Ht. 0.109 m. to 0.12 m.; D. 0.307 m. to 0.337 m.; D. of base, 0,102 m. Rather coarse greenish yellow clay, baked 
pink on one side. 

? No. §18. Fairly fine clay, light brick-red in color; buff slip which has turned pink here and there. 

No. 509. Fine buff clay, pink at core; smooth buff slip. 

No. 496. Fine clay, gray at core, pink toward surface; smooth buff slip. 

3 No, 102. Ht. 0.175 m.; greatest diameter, 0.202 m.; D. of mouth, 0.186 m.; D. of base, 0.081 m. Light brick-red clay 
not too well sifted, rather porous; thin grayish buff slip. 

No. 126. Light porous terracotta-colored clay; grayish buff slip. 

No. 127. Brick-red clay, grayish buff slip. 


Ficure 150, Two Basins or THE Type witd Two HANDLES, FROM THE Porrer’s SHOP 


Ficure 151. THree Larce Bastns or THE Type witH Four HAnpies, From THE Porrer’s SHOP 


HERO LER Y 19 


Figure 1§2. Two Cooxine Pors, rrom THE Portrer’s SHOP 


foeNoweas, Hig: 153. Height, 0.187 m.; greatest diameter, 0.171 m.; diameter of 
mouth, 0.113 m.; of base, 0.068 m. A small jug or jar, similar in fabric to the preceding, but 
blackened by fire and with a patch of bright red mottling on one side. It was not a common 
shape, as only one other example could be recognized among the fragments. The jug has 
a high body, a rim much like that of the cooking pots, and a single vertical round loop 
handle attached to the neck below the rim. 

11. Four curious vessels of a squat conical shape, with a flat loop handle at the apex 
of the cone, were found in the same room (13) with the cooking pots. In fabric they are 
identical with the latter, for which they were perhaps intended to serve as lids; their di- 
ameter (ca. 0.17 m. to 0.I1gI m.) would allow them to fit very comfortably. The handle was 
very carelessly placed without regard to the exact centre of the lid. There is no hole for the 
escape of steam. Two specimens (Nos. §85 and 
586) are shown in figure 154.! 

12. Ten scoops of coarse fabric came from the 
same room (13). They are fairly shallow cups or 
bowls which stand on a carelessly made low raised 
base, and have at one side a heavy projecting leg- 
handle, and at the opposite side a slight groove 
or hollow in the rim to serve as a channel for 
pouring. 

The scoops are of two sizes which differ 
somewhat in details. In the larger (Fig. 155, 
No. 413)? the channel is broad; in the smaller 


1 No. 585 (part of one side restored). Ht., 0.09 m.; D. 0.191 m. 
Clay same as that of cooking pots; slip mostly worn off. 

No. 586. (much restored). Ht. 0.08 m.; D. ca. 0.17 m. Brick-red 
porous clay; light slip. 

2 No. 413. Ht. 0.068 m.; D. 0.146 m.; length of handle, 0.124 m. FicurE 153. SMALL JAR, FROM THE 
Coarse, brick-red clay, buff slip. Porrer’s SHop 


160 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Figure 154. Two Lips, Nos. 586, 585, From THE Porrer’s SHop 


Figure 155. Two Scoops or Lapies, rrom THE Porrer’s SHOP 


Ficure 156. Two Braziers, FROM THE Porrer’s SHop 


THE? POLTERY 161 


(Fig. 155, No. 186) 1 it is a mere groove. The thick handle, projecting from the rim, is 
bent downward so that its end reaches approximately the same level as that of the base 
of the vessel, and thus acts as a sturdy support, which enables the scoop when set down 
to stand without leaning. In the case of the smaller size there is a large vertical hole 
through the end of the handle, by which the scoop could be suspended from a nail or a 
peg. The larger size has four or five smaller holes at intervals along the handle — perhaps 
to facilitate baking, since the biscuit here is very thick. In the smaller type the rim is 
finished with a slight outward roll; in the larger it is rather flat and set obliquely, re- 
sembling the rim of the cooking pots. 

The dimensions of the largest example are: height, 0.07 m.; diameter, 0.148 m.; length 
of handle, 0.12 m.; and the other specimens of the same type do not show any material 
variations. The measurements of the smaller type (smallest example, No. 186) are: height, 
0.058 m.; diameter, 0.116 m.; length of handle, 0.13 m. 

A similar vessel, but with angular profile of side, is shown in Figure 145, No. 187.” 
This is peculiar in that it has, on the interior opposite the handle, a heavy round crossbar, 
forming a rather flat loop, which may have been used for suspending the vessel by a string, 
but looks startlingly like the device in “‘moustache cups” of mid-nineteenth century crock- 
ery. Height, 0.068 m.; diameter, 0.139 m.; the projecting leg-handle is missing. 

13. In the same storeroom (13) were found five braziers of similar coarse fabric, represen- 
tative examples of which are illustrated in Figure 156.3 In shape they resemble shallow 
basins, one side of which has been bent violently inward and upward, and at the same time 
provided with a heavy handle, which projects like a leg straight outward and downward 
behind. The purpose of the downward slope was here again to give support so that the vessel 
might stand on its small flat base; but the execution was in all instances faulty, as a result 
of which the end of the handle and the base do not exactly agree in level. There are regularly 
two or three small holes along the handle and a large one — for suspension — near its end. 
The high turned-back side of the brazier at the base of the handle has a very practical 
purpose, as it protected the hand of the person holding the vessel from the heat of the burn- 
ing charcoal within. 

The braziers vary slightly in size, ranging in diameter from 0.22 m. to 0.243 m., and in 
height from 0.09 m. to 0.10 m. (at back). 

14. The total number of craters found in the Shop reached 51; five of these stood bottom 
upward in the southwest corner of Room 12; the rest were arranged in two rows, stacked 
in a double tier, along the south wall of Room 33. 

In shape these craters (Fig. 157) 4 are, though many times as large, very closely similar 
to the cooking pots described above. The chief differences are in the rim, which, in keeping 
with the dimensions of the pot, is thick and heavy, flat on top, with a broad flange on the 
outside, and in the handles, of which there are four — stout round loops, set horizontally, 


1 No. 186. Coarse, brick-red clay, grayish buff slip. 

2 No. 187. Coarse, brick-red clay, containing foreign particles; no slip now. 

8 No. 407. Ht. at back, 0.092 m.; at front, 0.074 m.; D. (side to side), 0.243 m.; length of handle, 0.168 m. Porous brick- 
red clay, buff slip. 

No. 410. Ht. at back, 0.095 m.; at front, 0.073 m.; D, (side to side), 0.233 m.; length of handle, 0.172 m. Coarse brick- 
red clay, thin grayish slip. 

4 No. 530. Coarse yellowish buff clay. 


162 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


and fairly regularly spaced, high up on the body of the vessel, not far below the rim. The 
handles are invariably pierced, each with two small holes, perhaps, as suggested above 
in other cases where the biscuit was very thick, to facilitate thorough baking. The craters 
are made of coarse, unsifted clay, as might be expected in vessels of such size, and the 


Ficure 157. Huce Crater, FROM THE Porrer’s SHop 


surface is rather rough; but they have been shaped with great regularity and are strong 
and practical, by no means unworthy products of the potter’s handicraft. 

There is a considerable range in size and proportions: the smallest crater is 0.34 m. high, 
has a diameter of 0.435 m., and its base measures 0.195 m. across. The largest is 0.45 m. 
high, 0.481 m. in diameter at its widest point, and stands on a base 0.202 m. wide. Another 
example showing different proportions has as corresponding dimensions 0.385 m., 0.40 m., 
and 0.165 m. 


THE POTTERY 163 


15. In Room 13 were found two large jugs of the amphora shape, one of which has been 
reconstructed as shown in Figure 158 (No. 375).! Height 0.375 m.; greatest diameter, 0.328 
m.; diameter of base, 0.104 m. The body has a shape very closely resembling that of the 
smaller stirrup vases. The place of the stirrup handle is taken by a high cylindrical neck, 
from the rim of which two powerful round handles curve down to the shoulder of the vessel. 
The mouth is roughly elliptical in form, though whether this was intentional or merely 


Figure 158. Larce AMpHoRA, FROM THE PoTTer’s SHOP 


accidental is not clear; it has a long diameter of 0.118 m. and a short axis of 0.108 m. The 
fabric is good, though the walls are thick and made of coarse clay. The heavy handles are 
perforated at the top by a single vertical hole, at the bottom by a horizontal hole, both 
small. In shape the pot reminds one of the large water jugs found on classical sites. 

16. No. 583, Fig. 159.” Height 0.463 m.; diameter at top, 0.563 m.; diameter of base, 
0.348 m. A deep cylindrical jar of most unusual shape, with flat base, almost vertical sides, 
expanding toward the top and curving out to a massive flat rim, flanged outside. The jar 
had two sturdy round loop handles set horizontally opposite each other just below the rim. 
The rim has a breadth of 0.036 m. on top. There is no painted decoration, but around the 


1 No. 375. Fairly fine light buff clay. * No. 583. Coarse, but good, pinkish buff clay. 


164 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


body are four slightly raised broad bands, one just above the base, one below the rim, and 
two almost symmetrically placed in the intervening space. These latter are wider than the 
others, having a breadth of ca. 0.06 m.; perhaps these bands mark the junctions of the sec- 
tions in which the vase was no doubt thrown on the wheel. 


Ficure 159. Huce Cy.inpricat Jar, No. 583, FROM THE PotTer’s SHOP 


No exact parallel to this capacious shape is known to me. The jar was found in Room 33 
at the east end of the northernmost row of large craters. 

17. No. 310, Fig. 160.1 Height 0.045 m.; diameter, 0.28 m.; depth inside, 0.025 m. A 
curious circular pan was found in the upper part of the mass of the débris filling Room 34 
(which was probably a stairway), and since it presumably, therefore, came from the floor 
above it may not, strictly speaking, belong to the stock of the Potter’s Shop. But as it looks 
unused, like the other pots, and certainly came from the same building, it may be included 
here. 


1 No. 310. Coarse clay, gray at core, pinkish buff at surface. 


THE POTTERY 165 


It is a heavy, clumsy utensil with walls o.o1s m. thick. It has a flat bottom, almost 
vertical sides which end in a roughly flattened rim, and two crudely made horizontal loop 
handles. It seems to be some kind of baking pan, but the shape is not a common one, 
so far as I know. 

The huge stock of vases found in the Potter’s Shop, representative specimens of which 
have now been described, must be regarded chronologically as a closed group. These pots, 
as stated above, had never seen actual service: they had certainly been manufactured at 
some place not very far distant — perhaps within the building itself — and had been stored 


Ficure 160. Baxine Pan, No. 310, FROM THE PotrTer’s SHop 


away for use as required or, more probably, for sale. The twenty shapes represented must, 
therefore, be forms for which there was a demand at a certain definite time in the Third 
Late Helladic Period. Many of these shapes are already familiar from other sites. The 
painted vases all belong to types known before, though the recovery of so great a number 
of decorated cylixes is a distinct accession to the preserved body of Mycenaean pottery. 
But among the undecorated examples are several shapes not hitherto available in published 
illustrations. Such are the shallow dishes with pierced bottoms, the small jars with lugs, the 
large basins with four handles, the cooking pots, the cylindrical jar, and the baking pan — 
perhaps also the conical lids, the scoops, and the large craters with four handles. The 
stock as recovered seems therefore to have added eight or nine new shapes to the Mycenaean 
repertory. But it is from the shapes already exemplified elsewhere that we must seek evi- 
dence for a more definite determination of the date within the Third Late Helladic Period 
to which the deposit must be assigned. 

In this connection the admirable stratigraphic observations of Mr. Wace at Mycenae 
are of the greatest importance; indeed they offer almost the only detailed evidence avail- 
able for a subdivision of the long period of Late Helladic III based on a painstaking exami- 
nation of an undisturbed and stratified deposit. In the section immediately adjoining the 


166 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Lion Gate it was observed that cylixes, both painted and unpainted, were common in the 
deeper layers and were also of very good fabric, whereas in the upper layers, in association 
with pottery of the “Granary Class,” cylixes had become noticeably rare, and the few 
that were found were of poor style and carelessly made (B. S. 4., X XV, pp. 20 ff., especially 
p. 34). Mr. Wace was thus able to say “the kylix so common a feature of early L. H. III 
deposits, practically disappears by the time the Granary Class begins.”’ The abundance of 
cylixes in the Potter’s Shop at Zygouries must accordingly be regarded as a significant phe- 
nomenon, clearly fixing the date of the deposit in the early part of Late Helladic III. All 
these cylixes are particularly well made, and in their patterns, though debased, we have un- 
mistakable reminiscences of some characteristic motives of the Palace Style, as has been 
pointed out above. That this tradition could have continued so vigorously to maintain 
itself much beyond the middle of Late Helladic III 1s certainly, in view of what we now 
know of the pottery belonging to the later part of the period, as represented by the Granary 
Class, extremely unlikely. | 

Not only the cylixes, however, but the whole stock of vases from the Shop are of very 
excellent fabric, and there can be no doubt that their connections are with the earlier half 
of Late Helladic III, when the technique of making pottery was still at a high point, rather 
than with the later stage, when the much more debased products of the Granary Class 
were characteristic. Such vases as the three-handled amphora, the low bell-shaped jar, 
the cooking stand, the capacious four-handled basins, with their smooth lustrous surface, 
and the well-shaped cooking pots are manifestly still the exponents of true Mycenaean 
ceramic tradition. 

Their chronological place can, however, be determined even more closely. In trenches 
dug beneath the floors of the Shop and below the northward continuation of the terrace on 
which the building stands were found sherds decorated with patterns in excellent glaze 
in the best style of Late Helladic III and clearly attributable to the very beginning of that 
period. These are the sherds very closely resembling the best Third Late Helladic ware 
found in the dromos of Tomb 505 and elsewhere at Mycenae,' some examples of which 
were shown above in Figure 130. They must certainly belong to a period antedating the 
construction of the shop, since, when the latter was built, this material had already be- 
come stratified. But the solidly constructed walls, in which stones of great size were used, 
indicate that we are not dealing with a late type of building, such as that exemplified 
in the houses at Korakou; the shop also undoubtedly belongs to an early phase of Late 
Helladic III. This does not necessarily establish likewise the date of the store of pottery, 
since a building so substantially made might well stand for many generations. But the 
painted plaster on the walls at the time the shop was destroyed by fire could hardly 
have endured so long, and may properly be considered as more or less nearly contemporary 
with the store of vases. The remains are unfortunately sadly scanty, but the character of 
the patterns, especially the spirals (PLare III), is not at all consistent with the final stage 
of Late Helladic IIT; it points rather to the earlier half of the period. 

In view of all these considerations, then, it seems safe to say that the contents of the 


‘I cite these parallels with the kind permission of Mr. Wace, whose forthcoming publication of the Tombs will appear 
in Archaeologia. 


THE POTTERY 167 


Potter’s Shop must be assigned to an intermediate phase, distinctly nearer the beginning 
than the end of the Third Late Helladic Period — perhaps not far from the close of the 


fourteenth century, B.c. 


THE CHAMBER TomBSs 
Toms XXXIII 


Tomb XXXIII yielded twelve vases of five different shapes; nine have painted decora-. 
tion and three are undecorated. 


Painted Ware 


1. There were three small stirrup vases, all of good fabric and decorated with fine hori- 
zontal lines between broad bands in the familiar Third Late Helladic style. 

No. 357 (Fig. 161) 1is the smallest (height, 0.08 m.; greatest diameter, 0.087 m.; diameter 
of base, 0.05 m.); it stands on a broad ring base, has a somewhat spherical body and rela- 
tively high handle and spout. Apart from the horizontal bands, the decoration offers only 
three concentric circles on the disk of the handle. The glaze is of good quality, reddish brown 
in color. 

No. 362 is slightly larger (Fig. 162; height, 0.099 m.; greatest diameter, 0.11 m.; diameter 
of base, 0.055 m.) *; the body rises from a broad ring-base, spreads widely to the point of 
greatest diameter, which is relatively high, then curves sharply inward toward the handle, 
as a result of which the upper part of the pot has a nearly flat surface. This area is orna- 
mented with a characteristic late Mycenaean pattern, including double hooks, double 
curving rows of dashes, and diamonds as space fillers; while below are the usual horizontal 
bands, broad and fine. On the disk of the handle are four concentric circles. The glaze is 
black in color and badly worn; where thin, as in the finer lines, it appears as a lustrous brown. 

No. 356 (Fig. 161; height, 0.085 m.; greatest diameter, 0.121 m.; diameter of base, 0.06 
m.)* has a very low, compressed shape, with comparatively slender spout and handle. 
The decoration is carried out in excellent red glaze, which has turned black on one side in 
the firing. The surely drawn broad bands enclosing fine lines do not seem far removed from 
the style represented at Tell el Amarna. The upper ring is ornamented with five small 
circles in broad outline, in four cases paralleled by a ring of dots within and without. The 
fifth circle has an exterior ring of dots, but encloses a single central dot. On the disk of the 
handle are four concentric circles surrounding a large dot. 

2. No. 350, Plate XIX.‘ Height, 0.27 m.; diameter, 0.21 m.; diameter of base, 0.087 m. 
The best pot from Tomb XXXIII is a tall jug standing on a flat base with slightly raised 
profile; it has a broad, well-formed oval body, curving inward to a slender neck, which rises 
straight upward about one half the height (0.09 m.) of the body itself (0.18 m.). The neck 
widens at the top to form a thin flat rim; below the latter is attached a flat ridged handle, 
which swings in a good curve down to the upper part of the body of the vase. Around the 


'No. 357. Fine yellowish buff clay, smooth slip of the same color. Good red glaze shading to brown. 
? No. 362. Fine yellowish buff clay, smooth slip of the same color, 

5 No. 356. Fine pink clay, yellowish buff slip. 

4 No. 350. Fine yellowish buff clay and slip. 


168 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Ficure 161. Two Stirrup Vases, From Toms XXXIII 


Ficure 162. Spourep JuG AND Stirrup VASE, FROM 
Toms XXXIII 


Ficure 163. Two Jucs, rrom Toms XXXIII 


eltctire PC) Teles eva 169 


base of the neck is a raised ring; this, the ridged handle, and the flat rim are certainly 
reminiscences of technique in metal. The pot is divided into the usual zones by broad bands 
of good black glaze applied with great regularity. In the upper zone is a simple linear decora- 
tion formed by three parallel wavy lines, with spirals effectively used to fill the open spaces. 
Where the paint is thin, the color lightens to brown, as in the two tails beneath the handle; 
and at one point is a bright red mottled patch. 

3. There were four jugs of different sizes, but all of approximately the same broad shape, 
with a wide mouth and a single handle. They are all of good regular fabric, but the decora- 
tion consists of nothing more than broad horizontal bands. 


Ficure 164. Two Jucs, rrom Toms XXXIII 


Nog), bigsio3 Height, 0.135 mis diameter, 0.197 me 
No. 354, Fig. 163. Height, 0.158 m.; diameter, 0.137 m.? 
No. 352, Fig. 164. Height, 0.191 m.; diameter, 0.166 m.° 
No. 361, Fig. 164. Height, o.199 m.; diameter, 0.170 m.4 
4. No. 351 (Fig. 162; height, 0.11 m.; diameter, 0.11 m.),° a small jug, with spherical 
body, narrow neck, basket handle, and a tubular spout projecting from one side, is of a well- 
known shape and requires no further description here. The neck is painted in solid color, 
the body decorated merely with belts of broad and fine lines. A similar vessel, but of inferior 


fabric, was found at Korakou (Korakou, p. 67, Fig. 97, No. 1). 


Unpainted Ware 


1. Two jugs, each with a single handle, are quite similar in shape to the painted examples. 
They are of good enough fabric, being very regularly formed, but bear no decoration what- 
soever. 


1 No. 353. Fine pinkish buff clay, buff slip; excellent reddish brown glaze. 

> No. 354. Fine pinkish buff clay, buff slip; red paint deepening through brown to black. 

3 No, 352. Fine pinkish buff clay, yellowish slip; black glaze thinning to brown. 

* No, 361. Fine grayish buff clay, greenish buff slip; thin brown glaze (remnants of original black?). 
® No. 351. Vine light buff clay and slip; black glaze badly worn. 


170 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


No. 348, Fig. 165. Height, 0.215 m.; diameter, 0.184 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.105 m.! 

No. 355, Fig. 165. Height, 0.220 m.; diameter, 0.189 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.107 m. 
This specimen has a badly damaged surface.? 

2. No. 349, Fig. 166. Height, 0.158 m.; diameter, 0.142 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.086 m.° 


Figure 166. Two Jucs, rrom Toms XXXIII 


‘No. 348. Pinkish buff clay, well refined, smooth buff slip. 


? No. 355. Yellowish buff clay, not so well refined; slip of same color. Lower half of one side baked pink and most of surface 
here has flaked off. 


® No. 349. Greenish buff clay, well cleaned, porous texture, slip not smooth. 


IMENT OO AEAB Hh oa 


This is a jug of somewhat more delicate fabric, with two vertical flat handles running 
from the top of the neck to the widest part of the body; in shape it is otherwise similar 
to the two preceding examples. 


Toms XXXV 


In Tomb XXXYV were found ten vases representing eight different shapes; eight bear 
painted decoration and the other two are plain. 


Painted Ware 


1. Two small stirrup vases may be mentioned first. One (No. 331, Fig. 167; height, 0.091 
m.; diameter, 0.125 m.; diameter of base, 0.055 m.) ! is of a squat shape similar to that of 
No. 356 from Tomb XXXIII. It is decorated with the customary belts of lines, broad and 
fine, about the body, and has a simple pattern of overlapping chevrons diminishing to mere 
dashes in the upper circle. Five concentric rings about a central dot mark the top of the 
disk of the handle. The glaze is brownish black in color and not well preserved. 

No. 406, Fig. 167. Height, 0.102 m.; diameter, 0.124 m.; diameter of base, 0.055 m.? 
This pot had been badly crushed and has been reconstituted from a great many fragments. 
In shape it is not so squat as No. 331, but it bears a decoration of similar type, though the 
pattern in the upper circle is not the same. This pattern consists of a dotted calyx and the 
upper end of a curve-headed stamen, being a stylized form of the flowers that appear on 
the vases from Tell el Amarna (Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, Vol. 1, Part 1, 
p. xli). On the upper surface of the disk of the handle is a single large dot. The glaze, which 
is in very bad condition, is of a faded reddish brown color. 

2. No. 329, Fig. 168. Height, 0.077 m.; diameter, 0.072 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.051 
m.* This is a tiny “amphora” of a favorite Mycenaean shape, with three small horizontal 
loop handles. The lower part of it is decorated with broad and narrow bands; in the upper 
zone, in what might be called panels between the handles, are two horizontal rows of dotted 
circles, with a few extra dots thrown in for good measure here and there in the background. 
The glaze is brownish black in color, rather worn and not very lustrous. 

3. No. 332, Fig. 168. Height, 0.047 m.; diameter, 0.062 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.034 
m.‘ A diminutive cylindrical jar with flat base, angular shoulder, and a low neck terminat- 
ing in a flaring rim. There are two small horizontal loop handles, not symmetrically spaced. 
The lower part of the pot is encircled by two broad bands; in the upper zone on each side 
between the handles appears a group of short parallel vertical dashes. The glaze, a brownish 
black in color, is of inferior quality. 

4. No. 330, Fig. 168. Height, 0.052 m.; with handle, 0.081 m.; diameter, 0.085 m.° 
A small deep cup with rounded bottom, roughly circular mouth, and a curving basket handle 
made of a flat strip of clay. The body is decorated with five irregular groups of vertical lines, 
carelessly drawn in poor, thin reddish paint. One group consists of four, two others of five, 
and two of six lines. Along the top of the handle runs a single wavy band, bordered on each 
side by a straight line following the edge. 


1 No. 331. Fine buff clay and slip. 4 No. 332. Clay and slip as in No. 329. 
? No. 406. Fine buff clay and slip. ® No. 330. Fine pink clay, smooth buff slip. 
® No. 329. Fine buff clay and slip. 


172 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


5. No. 328, Fig. 169. Height with handle, 0.08 m.; length, 0.142 m., width, 0.061 m.! 
A small askos of a shape familiar in Mycenaean pottery ("Apy. AeAr., III, 1917, p. 97, Fig. 
70; p. 153, Fig. 114, No. 4; Prehistoric Thessaly, p. 207; fahrbuch d. Inst. 22, 1907, p. 213, 
Figs. 3 a, b, c, and 4; Korakou, p. 53, Fig. 73, 2). Long and narrow with slightly flattened 


Figure 167. THREE SMALL Pots, rrom Toms XXXV 


Ficure 169. “Tasie,” Stem or Gostet, AND Askos, From Toms XXXV 


base, it has a closed top or back, surmounted by a longitudinal basket handle; one end opens 
in a small mouth or spout, the other terminates almost in a point. The decoration on each 
side of the vessel consists of a series of curving wavy lines springing from below, which may 
be a highly conventionalized rendering of a naturalistic grass pattern on early Mycenaean 
ware. The paint is thin, brownish in color, and is in a poor state of preservation. 


* No, 328. Fine greenish buff clay, slip almost the same color. 


THE POTTERY 173 


6. No.. 347, Fig. 167. Height, 0.107 m.; with handle, 0.135 m.; diameter, 0.097 m.' 
A small jug with a high neck, basket handle, and a tubular spout projecting from the body 
almost in the line of the axis of the handle. It is closely similar to No. 351 from Tomb 
XX XIII both in shape and decoration, but is far less well preserved. Much of the surface 
on one side has flaked away and some bits are missing, as the vessel was badly crushed. 
The paint is of a good quality, red in color. 

7. No. 327, Fig. 170. Height, 0.208 m.; diameter, 0.176 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.11 
m.” A large broad jug, similar in shape of body to those from Tomb X XXIII; this example 


has one vertical flat handle running down from the rim to the upper zone, and two smaller 


Ficure 170. Two Jars rrom Toma XXXV 


round loop handles set low down one on each side. The decoration is limited merely to broad 
bands in good reddish brown paint. 


Unpainted Ware 


1. No. 333, Fig. 169.3 The stem and part of the body of a small plain cylix with angular 
profile, exactly like those of type ¢ from the Potter’s Shop (Fig. 143). The rest of the vase 
was not in the tomb nor in the dromos, though the greater part of a second similar cylix 
appeared just outside the door. Apparently both had been deposited here as fragments, 
one inside the chamber itself, the other in the dromos. 

2. No. 326, Fig. 170. Height, 0.259 m.; diameter, 0.205 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.106 
m.‘ A large jug with oval body, high neck, rolled rim, and one heavy round handle set 
vertically. It is almost identical in shape with Nos. 348 and 355 from Tomb XXXIII. In 

1 No. 347. Fine buff clay and slip, the latter somewhat powdery. 
2 No. 327. Fine buff clay and slip. 


3 No. 333. Greenish buff clay and slip. 
4No. 326. Rather coarse buff clay, greenish buff slip, once polished. 


174 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


all three of these examples the upper end of the handle at the point of attachment shows 
a slight but awkward projection above the level of the rim itself; this is a feature which these | 
jugs share with those from the Potter’s Shop. 

On the evidence of the pottery, these two Chamber Tombs, XXXIII and XXXV, 
seem to be approximately contemporary. In support of this statement it is hardly necessary 
to do more than refer to the illustrations, where the vases may be compared. The small 
stirrup vases from the two graves are quite similar, and the same is true of the plain jugs 
and the jugs decorated with broad bands of paint. 

Each tomb, also, seems to represent only a single stage within the Third Late Helladic 
Period. Skeletal remains were in both cases too scanty to be of much use as evidence, 
save that this fact itself is an indication that many successive interments had not taken 
place. The bones in Tomb XXXV almost surely did belong to two skeletons, but in the 
pottery there is no trace of any real chronological distinction; the vases are all essentially 
synchronous. 

Among the types of vessels found, there is certainly a difference between the two tombs, 
but this may correspond merely to a difference in the character of the persons interred. In 
Tomb XXXV there was a notable proportion of very small pots; the number of figurines 
(11) was also unusual, and the objects found included the head of an animal figure and a 
small table. Perhaps these diminutive offerings indicate the burial of a child. The vessels 
from Tomb XXXIII, on the other hand, were mainly large, though three figurines and a 
seal were likewise found here. 

The pottery is on the whole very good and is not of the latest Mydenses style; no 
vases of the Granary Class were found (cf. B. S. 4., XXV, pp. 51 ff.). The painted examples 
are decorated in glaze of excellent quality (though not well preserved in all cases) and the 
patterns are executed with precision. The best vase is the tall jug from Tomb XXXIII 
(No. 350, PLate XIX; Fig. 166), which in technique is not far from the finest ware produced 
in Late Helladic III at the beginning of the period. The other pots do not quite measure 
up to this standard, but are not of markedly inferior fabric. The small stirrup vases are not 
separated by a great interval of time from the pots of the same shape found at Gurob 
(Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, Vol. 1, Part 1, pp. 182 f.). The date of the whole 
group may thus reasonably be ascribed to the same good intermediate phase in the earlier 
half of Late Helladic III to which we have assigned the contents of the Potter’s Shop. The 
plain jugs, as we have seen above, are manifestly a connecting link, and the fragmentary 
cylixes from Tomb XXXV, which are quite similar to those of type ¢ from the Shop, may 
not be without significance in corroborating this dating. 


THE GEOMETRIC PERIOD 


The Geometric Period is represented by two pots, both found in Tomb XVIII in the 
cutting of the Peloponnesian Railway. 

No. 308, Fig. 171. Height, 0.237 m.; diameter, 0.176 m.! A large jug or oinochoé, with 
broad body, high narrowing neck, and trefoil lip. The top of the handle is missing. The pot 
stands on a wide flat base with a slightly moulded edge. It is a simply decorated Geometric 

'No, 308. Fine yellowish buff clay and slip. 


THE POTTERY 175 


Figure 171. Juc, rrom Toms XVIII, Geometric 
Periop, No. 308 


Deep Bowl, rrom Toms XVIII, Geomerric Periop, No. 309 


FIGuRE 172. 


176 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


vase, similar in style to the examples from Corinth published by Miss Nichols (4. 7. 4., 
IX, 1905, pp. 411 ff., Pl. XIIT B 2). It is completely coated with black glaze except for two 
narrow belts near the base and high up on the body respectively, which each bear two 
parallel bands, and a rectangular panel on the front of the neck, where in a frame of parallel 
lines is a simple pattern of three interlocking zigzags. The handle is marked by short hori- 
zontal dashes. The glaze has a good lustrous black color; it is somewhat worn away in 
spots and 1s covered here and there by a calcareous accretion very difficult to remove. 

No. 309, Fig. 172. Height, 0.177 m.; diameter, 0.248 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.223 m.! 
One handle and part of the adjacent side are missing. A deep bowl or crater of a not un- 
familiar Geometric type, entirely coated with glaze except for a narrow horizontal panel 
high up on each side midway between the handles. In this panel we have a pattern of three 
parallel zigzag lines almost exactly like that on No. 308. The linear frame of the pattern 
is also almost identical, as are the horizontal strokes on the flat loop handles. The glaze is 
of good quality, though worn thin in spots, and is mainly black; but bright red patches, 
brought out in the firing, appear here and there, giving a mottled effect. 

These two pots, with their rather shiny glaze and simple panelled system of decoration, 
undoubtedly belong to the local northeast Peloponnesian variety of Geometric Ware. 


Tue Roman PeEriop 


Three Roman pots, somewhat incomplete, were found at a high level just inside the wall 
closing the door of Tomb XX XV; and fragments of two more came to light within the cham- 
ber, above the thick layer of fallen stereo which had once formed the roof of the tomb. All 
these vases apparently had been deposited in a grave directly above the Mycenaean tomb 
at a period antedating the collapse of the chamber; and it must have been on the occasion 
of this collapse that they were carried down to the level at which they were discovered. 
The three vases are the following: 

No. 365, Fig. 173. Height, 0.068 m.; diameter, 0.086 m.? A small jug with broad, flat 
base, squat body, narrow neck, and a widely splaying lip. The single handle is missing 
and has been restored in plaster. The pot is of excellent hard fabric with thin walls; the 
exterior surface, which is coated with thin reddish brown paint, is intentionally roughened 
and irregular, giving a curious effect. It seems to me (the fragmentary material from within 
the chamber, which is also somewhat mottled, is more convincing) an attempt to imitate 
a vase of rather opaque or colored glass. 

No. 366, Fig. 173.% Height, 0.065 m. More than one half of the vessel is missing. This is 
a small cup of fine fabric, similar to that of the preceding, but with smooth, even surface. 
It has a broad, flat base, compressed body, and a grooved vertical handle. The walls are of 
extraordinary thinness, and the exterior is coated with a uniform glazelike slip of creamy- 
yellow color. , 

No. 367, Fig. 173. Height, 0.167 m.; diameter, 0.17 m.; diameter of mouth, ca. 0.093 m.* 
Part of one side missing. A broad jug or jar of rather coarse finish, but well made and with 
very thin walls. It has a flat base, concave underneath, spherical body, large high neck 


* No. 309. Fine brownish buff clay and slip. ® No. 366. Fine pink clay; buff slip. 
* No. 365. Fine clay, gray at core, pink at surface. * No. 367. Fairly fine clay, grayish black throughout. 


THE POTTERY 177 


FicurE 173. THREE Roman Ports, rrom Doorway or Toma XXXV 


Ficure 174. THree Roman Pors, rrom SHArr GRAVES 


So Se ant Sciteasae 


Figure 175. THREE RoMANn Ports, rrom TILE-GRAVES 


178 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


with flaring rim, and one vertical handle (there may have been two originally; the side of 
the vase is broken away at the decisive point), which rises almost straight from low down 
on the body and then bends sharply in to the rim. The biscuit is grayish black right through 
and the surface has the same color; it is not smoothly finished. In the middle of one side 
is a large dent, which seems to have been made before or during the firing of the pot. 

The fabric of No. 366 is almost identical with that of a certain fine type of Roman lamp 
found at Corinth in a context datable to the end of the first and the beginning of the second 
century, A.D. Along with the lamps were recovered a good many fragments of jars of very 
thin black ware exactly similar to No. 367, some of them even marked by the same peculiar 
kind of dent that we have seen on the Jar from the cemetery of Zygouries. Other sherds 
again show a close kinship with our mottled fabric, imitating glass. In view of this re- 
markably complete correspondence, we need have no hesitation in assigning the date of 
these Roman pots to a period about contemporary with the reign of the Emperor Domitian." 

Although a good many uncovered shaft-graves were opened in the cemetery on the hill 
of Ambelakia, only three pots were found in them. Of the three one alone is complete; but 
the vases merit a brief description, since they belong to a period not often treated in archaeo- 
logical publications. 

No. 322, Fig. 174. Missing: handle and top of neck. Preserved height, 0.128 m.; diameter, 
0.096 m.2 From Tomb XIII. A small jug with oval body, slender neck, and one handle; 
it has a raised base, concave underneath, with a “button” at its centre. The transition at 
the shoulder is almost angular. The fabric is coarse, but regular, showing very even wheel- 
marks; the surface, which bears no slip and no paint, is brick red in color, as is the biscuit. 

No. 568, Fig. 174. Missing: handle and neck. Preserved height, 0.092 m.; diameter, 0.093 
m. From Tomb XIV. This is the lower part of a small broad jug, standing on a relatively 
large, edged flat base. It is made of coarse buff clay, pinkish toward the surface, but is well 
turned, and exhibits the same regular wheel-marks observed on No. 322. On the base appear 
string lines, showing how the pot was separated from the wheel. 

No. 368, Fig. 174. Height, 0.073 m.; diameter, 0.152 m. From Tomb XVII. A small 
bowl of coarse but firm fabric, made of dark brick-red clay. It has a small flat base (diameter 
0.042 m.), spreading body, and a flanged shoulder, from which the side rises slightly inward 
to the rim, ending in an outward roll. There are no handles. The vase has regular wheel- 
marks, but the shape was somewhat distorted during the process of manufacture. The 
unusual flange at the shoulder is a peculiar feature. 

The graves hollowed out in the shelter of a vertical ledge of rock and covered by leaning 
tiles, so many examples of which were found in the cemetery, yielded only three vases. 

No. 567, Fig. 175. From Tomb VIII. Fragment of a small jar of coarse red clay. It 
probably had two vertical loop handles, and closely resembled No. 364 in shape; in fabric 
it is very similar to No. 368, and, like No. 322, it shows great regularity of wheel-marks, 
which almost give the effect of horizontal bands. 

No. 364, Fig. 175. Height, 0.13 m.; diameter, 0.131 m.; diameter of mouth, 0.112 m.4 


1 I am indebted to Mr. Oscar Broneer for the dating of the Roman lamps at Corinth. 
* No. 322. Coarse brick-red clay. “Button” at centre of bottom. 

5 No. 567. Coarse brick-red clay, gray toward core; very porous. 

*No. 364. Clay fairly well refined, but porous; gray in color. 


THE POTTERY “179 


From Tomb XI. A small jar of broad shape with a wide mouth; one vertical loop handle 
is preserved, but there probably was a second corresponding handle on the opposite side 
of the vase, which is missing. The fractures show a coarse gray biscuit, but the walls are 
thin and regularly shaped. The rim is made in a technique similar to that of No. 567. There 
is no slip nor decoration. 

No. 323, Fig. 175. Height, o.192 m.; diameter, 0.169 m. From Tomb XVa. A well-made 
squat jug with broad flat base, large body, and rather slender neck; there is one vertical 
handle which joins the neck a little below the rim. The walls are thick and heavy, but the 
circular shape is very nearly true. The jug is made of fairly coarse pinkish buff clay, well 
baked, with a fairly smooth surface, on which the wheel-marks appear with uniformity 
almost as grooves. 

A comparison of the vases from the “tile-graves” with those from the shaft-graves — 
though the material is much less abundant than one might wish — leads to the conclusion 
that these two types of interment were in contemporaneous use. No. 368 is almost identical 
with the ware represented by No. 567; and No. 323, though a larger and better example, 
is closely similar to No. 322. In all cases the character of the fabric and the appearance of 
the regular wheel-marks are quite the same. The shaft-grave, as such, is certainly a much 
earlier type of tomb, as remarked above; but if these shafts in the cemetery of Zygouries 
go back to an older period, they were surely cleared of their original contents and made to 
serve again at the time when the tile-graves had come into fashion. By the fortunate re- 
covery of a bronze coin of Constantius Gallus in Tomb XIII, as already stated (p. 71), 
we are enabled to fix this period as not much later than the middle of the fourth cen- 
tury A.D. And it is as examples of the latest kind of Roman pottery found in Greece that 
these poor vases from Zygouries have their chief interest. 


CHAPTER V 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 


of metal, terracotta, bone, and stone found in the course of the excavations. They will 

be considered by periods in their chronological order. Most of these objects are of 
Early Helladic date and, though perhaps of small intrinsic value, are important as offering 
new material for the study of Early Helladic civilization; for this reason they should not be 
passed over too summarily. The Middle Helladic Period is very scantily represented, and, 
apart from figurines of terracotta, there are not a great many Late Helladic objects to be 
recorded. 


[: this chapter will be included, more or less in the form of a catalogue, all the objects 


Earty HeEtvapic PEriop 


Gold 

1. Small ornament, probably an earring, found beneath skull No. 5 in Tomb XX. It 
seems to have been cut from a thin sheet of plain gold, and has the form of a roughly 
circular disk, ca. 0.014 m. in diameter (PLaTE XX, No. 11). A slender tapering piece of the 
gold sheet, ending in a point, was left attached at one side; the point has been slightly 
twisted and bent back to form a wire loop. A hole, ca. 0.003 m. in diameter, has been care- 
lessly punched through the face of the disk. The wire loop is so small that it could not 
possibly have been the direct means of fastening the ornament to the ear (if it is an earring); 
probably a larger loop of bronze or silver, as in the following example, served as the connect- 
ing link. 

2. Similar ornament, clearly for the same purpose, found close beside the jaw-bone and 
teeth, which were the only surviving remains of skull No. 1 in Tomb VII. The shape is 
quite different from that of the foregoing, though the technique is the same. Here a piece 
like an elongated diamond in pattern was cut from a thin sheet of gold, the extreme ends 
being extended in tapering wires terminating in a sharp point. The whole was then folded 
along its transverse axis and hammered flat at the fold, while the wires were bent until they 
overlapped slightly, forming a loop ca. 0.0125 m. in diameter. The ornament (PLaTE XX, 
No. 7) thus has, as seen from either side, approximately the shape of an isosceles triangle, 
0.012 m. high with a base of 0.01 m. It was not attached directly by means of the loop of 
gold wire, but by means of a second loop of slender silver wire passed through the first. 
This second loop has a diameter of ca. 0.015 m. and is really a spiral, since the wire makes 
two complete turns; it has a fairly sharp point at either end. 

As suggested above, the two ornaments just described are presumably earrings, since 
each was found in close proximity to a skull and it is difficult to understand what other 
purpose they could have served. But it must be admitted as strange that in each of the two 

180 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 181 


graves where they occurred only one example was discovered instead of the two one might 
expect. It hardly seems likely that Early Helladic custom prescribed the wearing of only 
one earring; if they are earrings it may be that the mate was in both cases carried away on 
the occasion of a later burial in the same grave, or of the secondary interment itself. So far 
as I know, no ornaments of this kind and date have hitherto been found on the mainland 
of Greece, nor is there any evidence to show that earrings were worn until a much later 
period. It is not impossible, therefore, that these objects were merely pendant ornaments 
worn on a string about the neck or otherwise. 

3. Three pieces of thin gold wire (PLare XX, No. 14), bent around so that the ends over- 
lap, and forming in this way three links of a chain. They are of different sizes, the smallest 
ca. 0.01 m., the largest ca. 0.02 m. in diameter. Only two were found actually attached to- 
gether, but the largest lay close beside them and undoubtedly belonged to the chain. There 
is nothing to indicate its specific purpose. It was discovered in the earth above the floor of 


House W. 


Silver 
1. Well-preserved wire pin (PLATE XX, No. g), 0.112 m. long, from beneath skull No. 
5 in Tomb XX. The head was formed by splitting the wire of the pin into two finer wires, 
each of which was coiled into a spiral, one going to right and one to left, and each making 
four revolutions. The spirals are ca. 0.01 m. in diameter. The pin still has an extremely sharp 
point. It is identical in type with certain pins in the National Museum at Athens, found 
by Tsountas in Early Cycladic tombs on the island of Syra 
(Ed. ’Apy., 1899, Pl. 10, No. 15). fp ee 
2. Small disk, 0.0165 m. in diameter, of very thin silver (Fig. ( y 
176). It is broken at one side, where there seems to have been a \Q a / 
projection ca. 0.006 m. wide. The disk bore a simple decoration, WE 


concerning which it is not possible to say much on account of the — Freure 176. SMALL Sttver 
bad state of preservation; it seems to have been executed in low vee a gine apa ane 
relief (repoussé technique) and three parallel lines following the Toms VII 

curve of the circumference are faintly visible. The object, which 

was found in Tomb VII, was perhaps a pendant or an earring resembling somewhat 
the example in gold, but without the hole through the disk. 

3. A few fragments of badly oxidized silver were found in each of the three Early Helladic 
graves. The largest, from Tomb XX, measures only 0.026 m. by 0.022 m. and is a remnant 
of a very thin sheet of metal. It once bore a design made by impressed dots, being almost 
exactly similar in technique to the silver diadem from Chalandriane in Syra (E¢. ’Apy., 
1899, Pl. 10, No. 1). Unfortunately our fragment is too small and in too ruinous a condition 
to permit the design to be recognized. A still smaller fragment, from Tomb VII, measuring 
only 0.018 m. by 0.017 m., seems originally to have borne some kind of impressed design, the 
nature of which has been totally lost. The bits from Tomb XVI, finally, were barely recog- 
nizable as silver. . 

Though in a wretched state of preservation, these fragments are nevertheless significant 
and worthy of especial notice; for they can hardly be the remains of anything other than 


182 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


diadems like those found on Amorgos and Syra, and thus constitute an unmistakable con- 
necting link with the Cyclades. 


Bronze 

1. The well-preserved blade of a dagger, 0.168 m. long, found just south of House Y 
among the small pebbles and débris which apparently formed the pavement of a narrow 
street. The dagger (PLarr XX, No. 25) is of the short, broad-hilted type, tapering in a 
double curve to the point. At the widest part of the hilt it measures 0.052 m. across. Four 
symmetrically placed rivets, which were found in their original position, had once fastened 
the handle to the haft. The holes for the rivets seem rather carelessly punched; one of them 
was cut too near the edge of the blade and has been worn or broken through. The handle, 
no traces of which were found, was probably made of wood; if the length of the rivets may 
be taken as a criterion, it was at least 0.013 m. thick. A slightly raised rib runs down the 
middle of the blade on each side, not markedly ridged, but rather smoothly rounded off. 
Both edges of the blade are well-sharpened, and the weapon must have been a dangerous 
one. There is no decoration. 

A comparison of the graceful curving lines of this dagger with the more elongated and 
more nearly straight shapes familiar from Early Cycladic tombs (E¢. ’Apy., 1898, Pl. 12), 
which also have much more sharply ridged blades, suggests that we have here a somewhat 
more advanced type; indeed it bears a striking resemblance to a dagger recently found in 
a Middle Helladic tomb at the Argive Heraeum. The example from Zygouries, coming 
from an undisturbed context clearly contemporary with the settlement, presumably belongs 
to a time near the end of the Early Helladic Period, which was certainly long enough 
to allow a good deal of development and progress. The affinity of this dagger with the 
Cycladic type is, however, unmistakable; and quantities of similar daggers, including one 
almost an exact counterpart, have been found in the tholos tombs of the Mesara 
plain in Crete (Xanthoudides, The Vaulted Tombs of Mesara, P\. LV, especially No. 
1870). 

2. A small “spatula” (PLare XX, No. 10), found ca. 0.25 m. southeast of skull No. 5 
in Tomb XX. It is 0.05 m. long and increases in width from 0.021 m. at the handle end to 
0.023 m. at the tip. It is slightly curved and concave — probably not due to chance — 
which with the rounded end gives it almost a spoonlike shape. Apparently some 0.03 m. 
of the total length was occupied by a handle — presumably of wood, since all traces of it 
have disappeared — fastened by two small bronze rivets, which are still preserved in place. 
These rivets are 0.015 m. apart and are set somewhat to one side of the long axis of the haft. 
There are no traces of weathering or wearing to indicate whether or not the handle was of 
the peculiar pointed shape so well represented from the Cyclades; but the implement itself 
is obviously very closely related to the spatulae recovered by Tsountas in such numbers 
from the Early Cycladic graves at Chalandriane (Ed. ’Apy., 1899, Pl. 10, Nos. 30 to 34). 
Tsountas suggests that these implements were used especially by women in sonie process 
of personal adornment (iéid., pp. 102 f.); perhaps they were of service in the preparation 
of the powder and paint for tattooing. 

3. A similar implement, flat and thin, in a rather poor state of preservation (PLATE XX 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 183 


No. 22), found in the Early Helladic stratum in Trench V; length, 0.047 m.; greatest width, 
0.015 m. One end has two small holes close together for rivets, by which a handle was at- 
tached; the other end is slightly rounded. The condition of the metal here does not allow it 
to be determined with certainty whether or not this is the original end; in any case the 
bronze is so thin that the implement could not well have been much longer. It was un- 
doubtedly a spatula like that described above. 

4. Fragment of a pair of tweezers from Trench V (PLare XX, No. 19). One complete 
side and the upper part of the other are preserved; length 0.073 m. It was made of a thin 
strip of bronze, 0.007 m. wide at the lower end and narrowing slightly toward the top; 
this was bent sharply over at the middle, the two ends being brought fairly close together 
so that they could be used for gripping. The one preserved end is slightly rounded; the actual 
tip may have been lost through corrosion. The implement is quite plain, without embellish- 
ment other than an outward wavy curve of the sides near the upper end. Tweezers of the 
same general type, though not of exactly the same shape, have been found in numbers 
in Early Cycladic graves (Ed. ’Apy., 1898, Pl. 12, No. 4; 1899, Pl. 10, Nos. 40, 41, 42), 
in Early Minoan tombs (Seager, Mochlos, pp. 73 f., Fig. 44, Phare XIX, 28, 33; Xanthou- 
dides, The Vaulted Tombs of Mesara, p. 28), and in the early cemetery discovered near 
Chalcis in Euboea ({LavaBacuneiov, epi trav év EiSoia ’Apyatwv Tadwr, pp. 6 and 8, Figs. 4 
and 11, Pl. VIII, No. 3); they were probably used as toilet implements for the removal 
of hair. Similar tweezers recovered from a shaft grave of Middle Helladic date and from 
a late Mycenaean chamber tomb at-the Argive Heraeum (4. 7. 4., XXIX, 1925, pp. 420, 
425), from the First Shaft Grave at Mycenae and from the cemetery of Zafer Papoura 
(Evans, Prehistoric Tombs, p. 115) seem to show that the custom was generally continued 
to a much later date. 

5. An awl (PLatre XX, No. 18), found among the pebbles forming the floor of the west 
room in the House of the Dagger. It is rectangular in cross section, 0.107 m. long and 0.004 
m. thick at its broadest point. It tapers gradually from its point of greatest thickness, 
reaching a sharp tip at one end at a distance of 0.082 m., and diminishing abruptly to a point 
at the other end. This latter end was undoubtedly inserted into the corresponding socket 
of a handle by which the awl could be held and manipulated. The handle may have been 
made of wood, in which case the sharp upper end of the awl could have been driven firmly 
into it. Well-made serviceable implements of exactly the same kind were found by Tsountas 
in the cemetery of Chalandriane (E¢. ’Apy., 1899, Pl. 10, Nos. g and 12). 

6. Slender wire pin, 0.073 m. long, broken into three fragments, with head missing. Found 
under skull No. 2 in Tomb XVI. 

7. Substantial wire pin, o.0og m. long, broken into two pieces and point missing (PLATE 
XX, No. 8); from Tomb XX. It has a heavy, almost half spherical head, ca. 0.014 m. in 
diameter and without decoration, of a shape not exactly duplicated in the Cycladic collec- 
tion in the National Museum at Athens. 

8. Part of a wire pin, 0.066 m. long, broken into three fragments; the head and the tip 
are both missing. This pin was found in the south part of Tomb VII. 

g. Wire pin in excellent state of preservation (PLATE XX, No. 17) from House A. From 
the head to its sharp tip it measures 0.103 m. The head is small (ca. 0.006 m. in diameter) 


184 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


and has a conical top, resembling fairly closely an example found by Tsountas at Chalan- 
driane (Ed. ’Apy., 1899, Pl. 10, No. 19). 

10. Wire pin, well preserved except for the tip, which is missing (PLarE XX, No. 16). 
It is 0.087 m. long and has a small, almost spherical or bead-shaped head, ca. 0.007 m. in 
diameter, below which is a raised ring. It was found in House D. 

11, Similar pin from the same place; the head is missing. Length 0.09 m.; slightly bent 
in the middle. 

12. Two fragments of similar pins from the same house, D; one is 0.067 m. long, the other, 
0.034 m. 

13. Fragment of a pin from House Y, of very slender wire; length, 0.075 m.; the point is 
preserved, but the head is missing. 

14. Piece of flat wire, ca. 0.24 m. long, and 2 mm. wide, from House A. Uneven in shape 
and twisted; the ends are bent back to meet, forming a narrow loop. The wire seems to be 
cut from a thin sheet of bronze and the technique thus resembles that of the two gold 
earrings described above. 

15. Solid flat implement from House W, perhaps a chisel (PLatE XX, No. 21); length, 
0.089 m., thickness, 0.008 m.; width at blunt end, 0.015 m.; at middle, 0.017 m., from 
which it tapers almost to a point (the tip is missing). The edges are slightly rounded, the 
sides flat; the blunt end looks like a break. It is a well-made instrument, perhaps a 
pointed chisel of some kind. 

16. A sturdy nail found on the Early Helladic floor in Trench V should be mentioned 
here. It is hand forged, roughly pentagonal in cross section, with a flat, almost square head 
(Plate XX, No. 20). The point is not very sharp. 

17. A ring made of a very thin flat band of bronze, 0.004 m. wide; from the upper inter- 
ment in Tomb VII. The ring, which seems to have been quite without decoration, is now in 
fragments, too badly corroded to be mended. As remarked above, the date of this interment 
is not certain, but it probably falls in the Early Helladic Period. 

18. Fragment of very thin bronze, apparently the slender handle of an ornament or im- 
plement, which broadens into a circular disk at the end. The disk, which is pierced by 
a small hole, is 0.095 m. in diameter; it bears no decoration. The shape of the ornament 
itself cannot be determined. Length 0.046 m.; from Tomb XXIII. 


Lead 

In House U was found a thick flat lump of lead of irregular outline; it does not seem to 
have served any special purpose in its present form, but was probably a reserve supply 
from which a small quantity could be cut from time to time when needed. It weighs 1265 
grammes. 

Pithos No. 4, found in the bed of the stream mentioned above, had, as already remarked, 
a small hole in its bottom, which was found closed by means of a stopper of lead. This 
stopper is not at all regular in shape, but fitted the opening and had doubtless been poured 
into place. 

Several fragments of lead clamps by which broken vases had been mended came to 
light here and there about the settlement. The method of repair is the same as that em- 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 185 


ployed in Mycenaean times, and consisted in boring two neat holes in the adjoining frag- 
ments and running lead through them, held together by a substantial connection both on 
the interior and the exterior of the pot. 


Terracotta 

1. Figurine, 0.075 m. high, modelled in a rude primitive style (PLare XXI, No. 1). 
The head is flat on top! and almost triangular in shape, as seen from above; its back is 
rounded off and its front pinched out to form a long projecting face and nose. The neck is 
relatively long; below it an irregular protuberance on each side indicates no doubt the arms, 
the right being larger than the left. No legs are distinguished; the lower part of the figurine 
is merely a solid stem which widens toward the bottom to rest on a slightly hollowed base. 
No attempt is made to show the breasts, and there is no indication of sex. But a narrow 
strip of clay, now missing, seems originally to have been applied on the back, extending from 
the top of the head to the middle of the back, clearly a plastic rendering of a long braid of 
hair; and it accordingly seems certain that the intention was to represent a female figure. 
The head is finished with more attention than the rest of the body, details being delineated 
in a glaze paint in the style of Early Helladic patterned ware. The paint is mainly reddish 
brown in color, but exhibits the tendency toward mottling so common in the pottery of the 
period. The eyes are huge and almond shaped, each having a tiny pupil marked by a dot. 
A series of short parallel strokes above each eye, continued on the flat top of the head, may 
be meant to depict eyelashes or eyebrows. The hair is painted on the top of the head and 
down the back, the plastic braid having also apparently been coated with glaze. The paint 
now shows very little lustre, but it has the crackled surface typical of Early Helladic glaze 
badly deteriorated. The figurine was found in a trench dug through the floor of the House 
- of the Snailshells, at a depth of 1.46 m. below the floor, in a pure, undisturbed Early Hel- 
ladic deposit; it must accordingly be assigned to the middle stage of the Early Helladic 
Period. Our illustration shows two views: one from the left side and above, the other from 
the front and above. 

This figurine, though crude and primitive, is important and deserves the space given 
here to its description, for it seems to be the first example of its date and kind to be pub- 
lished. Dr. K. Miller informs me that fragments of similar figurines have been found at 
Tiryns, but, so far as I know, no complete specimen is available from any other site. It 
therefore offers us the first adequate evidence for the type of terracotta figurines in use dur- 
ing the Early Helladic Period. This type proves to be totally different from that of the 
contemporary marble figures; indeed it bears a rather astonishing general likeness (es- 
pecially noticeable in the pinched-out face and the plastic braid of hair) to the ordinary 
figurines so common in Late Helladic III. These latter seem to have no easily recognizable 
ancestors in Minoan Crete and are not indeed especially numerous on the island; they 
appear rather to belong to that mysterious element which raised the Minoized civilization 
of the mainland to its greatest height of political power in the fourteenth century B.c: 
Is is utterly impossible that these late Mycenaean figurines represent the reémergence of 
a persistent underlying native type and that their real ancestors are to be sought in the 


1 Our illustration does not show clearly the flatness of the head, since the drawing gives a view from slightly above. 


186 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 
Early Helladic Period in figures such as the one under discussion? The Early Helladic 


population was almost surely not exterminated during the Middle Helladic invasion; as a 
subject people it may possibly have kept alive coroplastic traditions, as well as others of 
a religious nature, which came later to be incorporated among the practices and beliefs of 
the amalgamated stock. In view of the total absence of any such figurines among the re- 
mains of the Middle Helladic Period which have become known up to the present time, 
it certainly seems bold to venture such a theory based on the discovery of a single figurine; 
but, pending further discoveries in this field, the explanation suggested above need not be 
regarded as impossible. 

2. Head of an animal with a long neck (PLare XXI, No. 3). The horns are broken away, 
and the whole body of the animal from just below the neck is missing. The fragment is 
0.048 m. high and 0.033 m. long, this latter being the length of the head. It is made of light 
buff clay, not especially well purified, but baked fairly hard, and finished with a partial 
coat of glaze in the style of the pottery of Group B. The color is pale red. The front part of 
the head and the snout were not painted, but there is a ring around each eye, and on the top 
of the head and the neck a thicker coat than elsewhere may indicate shaggy hair. The eyes 
are deeply punched round holes, each with a large raised pupil in it, which contributes 
not a little to the realistic effect. The snout is long and tapering, but ends in a flat surface. 
On the whole a rather casual piece of work, it nevertheless suggests that Early Helladic 
modellers were not without ability and some keenness of observation. The head was found 
in the southeastern corner of the east room or court of House U. 

3. Body of a small animal in a style much inferior to the foregoing. The head and all 
four legs are missing. The modelling is of the crudest, and the surface bears no trace of paint. 
The figure may perhaps be meant for that of a dog. It was found in the earth filling the 
southernmost pithos in the row against the back wall of the large room in the House of the 
Pithoi. Extreme length of fragment, 0.035 m.; height, 0.023 m.; thickness, 0.015 m. 

4. Fragment of the forepart of a bird (PLare XXI, No. 2), found in Trench V at a depth 
of 1.25 m., just beneath the floor of an Early Helladic house. It may be from an unusual 
pot in the shape of a bird, since the base of what may have been a large handle appears 
just behind the neck; this must have been a fairly high, curved basket-handle. But as no 
trace of a mouth appears to make the identification as a vase certain, the fragment is in- 
cluded here among the miscellaneous objects of terracotta. It is made of coarse buff clay, 
not fired to a high degree of hardness. The surface is covered with a coat of glaze of varying 
thickness in the usual poor style of the later glazed ware, Group B II. It is mainly brown 
and brownish black in color, depending on the thickness of the glaze, but a splotch of red 
on the breast betrays the style of mottled ware. In spite of the absence of the beak, the 
fragmentary condition, and the rather poor technique, the bird’s head has a very naturalistic 
appearance. This may be due in part to the eyes, which are made of circular peice of clay, 
applied plastically on each side of the head. 

5. Conical object, 0.073 m. high, with a lower diameter of 0.026 m. and a diameter at 
the top of ca. 0.012 m. (No. 2, Fig. 177; PLare XXI, No. g.) The surface of the base is 
slightly concave; in the top is a hole g mm. in diameter, which diminishes almost to a point 
at its bottom, 0.01 m. deep. On opposite sides of the cone, at a distance of 0.015 m. from the 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 187 


lower end, are two broad sturdy lugs projecting ca. 0.01 m. The surface is covered with a 
smooth durable slip, reddish brown in color, which is brilliantly burnished, except on the 
under side of the lugs and at the concave centre of the base; the technique is similar to that 
of the pottery of Group A II. Much effort seems to have been spent on refining the shape 
which has been meticulously pared down with some delicate implement. It was found in 
House A. Six other specimens of the same type came to light at Zygouries and will be 
briefly described in the following paragraphs. 

6. No. 3, Fig. 177 (found in House D). Height, 0.091 m.; diameter at bottom, 0.039 m.; 


at top, 0.016 m. The base is flat; in the top is a hole, 0.012 m. in diameter and 0.027 m. deep, 


Ficure 177. Seven Ficurines (?) or Terracotra, Earty Hettapic Periop 


which grows smaller as it deepens. The lugs, at a height of 0.027 m. from the base, are 
relatively smaller than on the preceding example. The surface, buff in color, seems originally 
to have been slipped and polished, but most of the slip has worn off, and marks of the polish- 
ing may be seen only in zones here and there. No trace of paring is visible. 

7. No. 4, Fig. 177 (found in House D). Height, 0.073 m.; diameter at bottom, 0.028 m.; 
at top, 0.011 m. The base is flat, but not made exactly at right angles to the vertical axis, 
in consequence of which the cone stands with a decided list. The hole in the top is 0.042 m. 
deep. The lugs are somewhat smaller in proportion than in the two preceding examples. 
On account of the slanting base one lug is slightly higher than the other. The surface, buff 
in color, now has no slip; it was once polished, but most of the traces of the polishing have 
worn away together with all the edges. 

8. No. 195, Fig. 177. Fragment from House W. Preserved height, 0.068 m.; diameter 
of the flat base, 0.035 m.; the top is broken away. The lugs are set at a height of 0.02 m.; 
both lack their tip. The buff surface is slipped and polished; it shows no traces of paring. 

g. No. 196, Fig. 177. Fragment, much battered, from the House of the Dagger. Upper 
part missing; in the fracture may be seen traces of the hole in the top which must have 
been at least 0.03 m. deep. Diameter of the flat base, ca. 0.035 m.; the body swells out a 
little just above the base. The lugs, which are broken away, were set one at a height of 
0.022 m., the other at 0.025 m. The surface, which seems to have a light reddish brown slip, 


188 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


was polished in zones, the zone containing the lugs being left unpolished. There is no trace 
of paring. The biscuit, as may be seen in the break, shows a coarse, unrefined clay containing 
large foreign substances and has not been especially well fired. The thickness of the cone 
must have made thorough baking under primitive conditions difficult. 

10. No. 197, Fig. 177. A somewhat battered example from the House of the Dagger. 
Height, 0.084 m.; lower diameter, 0.045 m.; upper (damaged), ca. 0.021 m. The bottom is 
flat; the hole in the top is large (0.016 m. in diameter) and deep (0.042 m.). The lugs in 
this case too are unsymmetrically placed, one being distinctly higher than the other; they 
were fairly large, but both have been broken. The surface, which is dark buff in tone, 
seems to have no slip. It was originally polished, including the base and the under side of 
the lugs; most of the polishing was done in a horizontal direction around the cone, but the 
zone containing the lugs was rubbed vertically. 

11. Fig. 177, No. 237; from the deep trench dug through the floor of the House of the 
Snailshells. Height, 0.075 m.; lower diameter, 0.028 m.; upper, ca. 0.012 m. The base is 
slightly concave. The hole in the top is rather small, but has a depth of 0.028 m. The lugs, 
which are much damaged, are set at a height of 0.021 m. above the base. Fully half of the 
original surface has been eaten away; only at one or two spots, where it remains, are faint 
traces of polishing discernible. 

The seven curious objects described in the foregoing list are not peculiar to Zygouries; 
similar objects have been found at other Early Helladic sites in the Peloponnesus. But, so 
far as I know, no examples have hitherto been published, and it has therefore seemed worth 
while to describe them in detail in the hope of thereby obtaining assistance in their interpre- 
tation. For it must be admitted that they still remain an unsolved puzzle to me. From the 
fact that some of the lugs are polished on the side toward the small end of the cone and left 
unpolished on their other side, it seems certain that the objects stood on their broader end; 
this position has therefore been assumed in the description and 1s shown in the illustrations. 
The suggestion that they are “stoppers” for some kind of a jug or bottle, which is what the 
shape at first glance might lead one to think, is thus ruled out; as a matter of fact, not a 
single example of a vessel with the right kind of mouth and neck to receive such a stopper 
was found during the excavations. 

In every case (with the exception of No. 195, which is broken) we have seen a fairly 
deep hole in the top of the cone, into which something surely must have been set or fitted. 
On the analogy of certain figurines found in Thessaly, the body of which was made of terra- 
cotta and the head of a pointed stone inserted into a prepared socket in the torso (Pre- 
historic Thessaly, pp. 41, 49, Fig. 25) I venture to suggest that these seven conical objects 
from Zygouries also are figurines, perhaps descended from a very primitive type. The pro- 
jecting lugs might then be a crude rendering of the arms. No heads of stone were found, it 
is true, but they may have been made of some other, perhaps perishable, material, such 
as wood or bone or ivory. It may be objected that the primitive but unmistakably anthro- 
pomorphic figurine described above (p. 185) presents a serious difficulty in the way of the 
suggested explanation; for it might seem rather unlikely that two types so utterly different 
should exist side by side. But in the Cyclades, though the amorphous figures no doubt are 
derived from a much earlier prototype than the anthropomorphic, they nevertheless con- 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 189 


tinued to be made for a very long period, and in the later phase of Early Cycladic civilization, 
as represented at Chalandriane in Syra, the two types clearly occur contemporaneously. 
So here at Zygouries the possibility of the existence of two types in the same period must be 
admitted. 

It is now practically certain that the Peloponnesus was inhabited in the neolithic period 
by a race quite different from the Early Helladic people to whom must be attributed the 
introduction of the new metal at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Is it not possible that 
the survivors of this neolithic race, later absorbed into the Early Helladic stock, kept alive 
traditions and types of their own alongside the new? 


oe ee aN 


I 2 


FicureE 178. Symspo.s on Seat or TERRACOTTA, ENLARGED 


12. A “button seal” from House Y (PLate XXI, No. 4); height, 0.025 m.; diameter of 
face, 0.034 m. It consists of a flat, disk-like portion below, on which is the circular face of the 
stamp, surmounted by a solid rounded top of slightly smaller diameter. A small hole is 
neatly bored horizontally through this upper part, no doubt for a string by which the 
signet could be carried. The seal is on the whole rather clumsily made, as if whittled down 
here and there by a knife; its surface, of a dirty brown color, is not smoothly finished, though 
it seems to have been lightly polished. 

A design rudely executed in incised technique occupies the face of the seal. It consists 
of a circle divided into quarters by two crossing lines; the ends of the latter do not reach 
the circumference, but terminate in three cases in a sort of double closed scroll, while the 
fourth ends against an open curved line. This differentiation, which is not very strongly 
indicated, may perhaps mark the top or the bottom of the seal. In each quarter is a crudely 
formed sign, all four of which are different from one another. Three are easy to distinguish, 
but the fourth is difficult, since it has come into conflict with the scroll. 

These four signs, shown in Figure 178 at an enlarged scale, may possibly be symbols of 
a pictographic character intended to convey a meaning. No. 4, by an effort of the imagina- 
tion, might be interpreted as an attempt to represent a human figure; Nos. 2 and 3 are also 
conceivably pictorial; but I can make nothing of No. 1. 

This stamp, dating from the Early Helladic Period, is apparently the first of its kind to 
be found on the mainland of Greece; at any rate no other published example is known to me. 
Its nearest analogies must be sought in Crete, among the button seals from the Early Minoan 
tombs in the Mesara plain. On a terracotta seal from Hagios Onouphrios (Scripta Minoa, 
I, p. 117, Fig. 50) a somewhat similar arrangement of a quartered circle appears; here too 
are symbols in the four quarters, though even more primitive in appearance and less sus- 
ceptible of interpretation. I can find no other very close parallel, but it seems clear that 
our seal is not far removed from this Early Minoan group. 


a 


190 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


When the evidence is so scanty it would be venturesome indeed to assert on the basis 
of this single seal that writing, even of the most primitive sort, was known in Early Helladic 
times in the Peloponnesus. Even if it could be shown that the symbols on this seal have 
meaning, we cannot be certain that it is a native product and not an importation from 
abroad. An amulet might travel far. Until fresh discoveries make new material and evi- 
dence available, it seems more prudent to leave this problem open. 

13. Some twenty-five whorls or weights of terracotta were found; they differ considerably 
in size and present several varieties of shape, as may be seen from the selection illustrated 
in Figure 179. The commonest type has a broad, flat base, and sides rising at first almost 
vertically, then curving inward to a fairly large top. The shape, a sort of plump cone, gives 
an effect of heaviness quite different from the lightness of the Mycenaean examples with 


Ficure 179. Spoots AnD WeIcHTS oF TERRACOTTA, Earty HeELiapic PER‘op 


their more slender dimensions and almost straight or concave line of profile. In all cases 
the base has a diameter greater than the height of the whorl. The smallest specimen is 
0.025 m. high, with a base 0.038 m. wide; the corresponding measurements of the largest 
are: height, 0.043 m.; diameter of base, 0.051 m. These whorls are regularly pierced with a 
large vertical hole. The surface has usually been brought to a fairly smooth finish, but bears 
neither paint nor polish. 

Another variety has a very low, squat shape with the same kind of convex line of profile. 
A typical specimen measures 0.024 m. in height and 0.053 m. in diameter. 

An extremely crude example, the only one of the sort found (Fig. 179, No. 14) has a 
concave line of profile; height, 0.035 m.; diameter of base, 0.053 m. 

14. Two curious wheels or disks came to light, the purpose of which is not clear to me 
(Fig. 179, Nos. g and 15). One has a diameter of 0.048 m. and is only 1 cm. thick; it has a 
sort of projecting “hub” on each side, perhaps accidentally formed when the large hole 
was carelessly punched through the centre of the disk. The second, with a diameter of 0.058 
m.,1s thinner than the first and has a fairly sharp edge all around. On one side is a rough 
protuberance, clearly caused by the piercing of the hole through the centre. 

15. Among the remaining objects of terracotta are two small spool-shaped objects with 
slightly concave ends (Fig. 179, Nos. 4 and 5). Though made of coarse clay and not of care- 
ful manufacture, they are finished in the glaze-technique with a reddish brown wash, some- 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS IgI 


what mottled in the baking. One is 0.042 m. long and 0.028 m. thick at the end; the otheris 
slightly smaller and of more slender proportions. Neither is pierced. 

16. A large block of terracotta, somewhat irregular in shape (Fig. 179, No. 12). Length, 
0.077 m.; width, 0.075 m.; thickness, 0.057 m. The sides are all flattened except one, which 
is slightly convex. The block is pierced longitudinally by two holes, 0.042 m. apart, which 
run near and parallel to the side opposite the convex face. The clay is not at all well puri- 
fied, but the surfaces were smoothly finished and seem originally to have been coated with 
good reddish brown glaze; it has been worn away, leaving only scanty traces. I do not under- 
stand the use of this object unless it is a weight of some kind. 

17. A crudely made cylinder of unbaked clay may also be mentioned here; it is exactly 
like those found at Korakou (Korakou, p. 104, Fig. 129, Nos. 4 and 5). Length, 0.09 m.; 
diameter, 0.06 m. The cylinder is pierced longitudinally by two holes, 0.022 m. apart from 
centre to centre. This object too seems to have been a weight of some sort. 


Bone 

1. A handle, probably belonging to a knife or dagger of small size (PLarE XXI, No. 5). 
It 1s made of fine-grained bone in the form of a slightly tapering cylinder, hollowed out at 
its lower end for the fitting of the haft of the implement, and with a round knob at its upper 
end. The handle is 0.047 m. long, of which 0.015 m. belongs to the knob; the latter is a 
flattened sphere, since its transverse diameter is ca. 0.02 m. The lower end of the handle 
containing the socket has a diameter of 0.0165 m. From the careful, delicate character of the 
cutting, it seems clear that this handle must have been fitted to an instrument of some 
value, but there is no clue to its exact nature. The socket for the haft is approximately 
circular, just short of 0.01 m. in diameter; two small holes opposite each other, bored trans- 
versely through the lower end of the handle, show that the haft was fastened by means of 
a single pin or nail. The handle was found on the floor of the House of the Pithoi. 

2. Pommel from the end of the handle of a dagger or 
small sword (Fig. 180). Length, 0.039 m.; height, 0.02 m.; 
thickness, 0.013 m. The shape is roughly that of a broad cres- 
cent; in the centre of the concave side 1s a hole, ca. 0.0075 
m. in diameter, evidently the socket meant to receive the 
end of the handle. This latter was fastened by means of a 
nail or rivet passed through a transverse hole from each side. 
The surface of the pommel was smoothly polished; it is now 
in bad condition, having apparently suffered from fire, which 
has given it its blackened color and caused it to crack and 
split. The damage has now been repaired and the material 
subjected to a hardening process by E. Gilli¢ron. In work- eit pew ee Or rek" 
manship this piece is very similar to the preceding example. — Sceprre, Earty Heiapic Pertop 

3. Three whorls or buttons of squat conoid shape (Fig. 181, 

Nos. 1-3), made of ordinary bone, were found. No. 3, only 0.008 m. high and 0.019 m. in 
diameter, with a large vertical hole through its centre, is from Tomb XX. No. 2, from House 
U, is a little larger; the hole through it was apparently bored half way from each side. The 


192 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


largest example, No. 1, from Trench VI, is 0.022 m. high and has a diameter of 0.055 m.; 
it also has a hole bored from both directions. 

4. A thin bone disk, from House U, is shown in Figure 181, No. 4. It looks like a 
narrow horizontal slice from a whorl or button similar to the preceding; the large hole 
through it is not accurately centred. Diameter, 0.044 m.; thickness, 0.005 m. 

5. Bone pins were fairly common in the settlement, for no fewer than fifteen examples 
were recovered, though for the most part in a fragmentary condition. Thirteen are of 


8 
=——bD = a» 
9g 11 


Ficure 181. Miscettangeous Opjecrs or Bone, Earty Hewtapic Periop 


a broad flat type, two are half round in section; typical specimens are shown in Figure 
181, ANOg ce a ce.00), 1: 

No. 7, which is complete, measures 0.102 m. in length, 0.0135 m. in greatest width. It is 
pointed at both ends, but more slender and sharper at one extremity than at the other. 
One side is slightly convex and has a polished surface; the other, which is the marrow side 
of the bone, is correspondingly concave and rough. The color is grayish brown. The pin is 
not pierced. 

No. 8, which is similar to the preceding in technique and color, is pointed at one end and 
rounded at the other. Part of the rounded end is broken away, and the extreme tip is also 
missing. Preserved length, 0.105 m.; width, 0.019 m. 

No. ¢ has lost its tip; the other end, which is cut off obliquely, is original. The color is 
dark gray, and the technique is like that of the two just described. Preserved length, 0.101 
m.; width, 0.014 m. 

No. 11 is a fragment of a pin of a slightly different type. It is not flat in shape, but 
rounded on one side, hollow on the other, being made from one half of a small bone, split 
longitudinally. Length, 0.04 m.; width, o.o11 m. 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 193 


No. 9 is a complete example of this second type. It is sharp at one end, blunt at the other, 
and polished on both sides. Length, 0.046 m.; width, 0.006 m. 

No. 6, of which two fragments are preserved, the middle part missing, seems to have been 
a broad flat implement, not exactly a pin. One end is rounded (most of it missing), the other 
tapers, but not to a sharp point. Original length, probably not less than 0.15 m.; width, 
0.025 m. 


Figure 182. Preces or Horn, rroM AntLers OF Rep Derr, Earty HE ttapic Periop 


No. 10 in the same figure is a small slender spool, ridged at each end and with a deep 
groove around the middle. It is smoothly polished. Length, 0.04 m.; greatest thickness, 
0.005 m. 


Horn 

A few fragments of horn were discovered here and there about the settlement, but the 
material does not appear to have been excessively common. The best piece (Fig. 182, from 
House D) is the lower part of an antler of a red deer, with the two lowest branches still 
complete. The upper part of the horn has been cut away, or perhaps sawn, leaving a straight 
cut. From its base to the tip of the first branch, this antler measures 0.31 m. It was no doubt 
intended for use in smaller pieces to make handles of knives or sockets for celts or for some 


194 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


other similar purpose. In the same figure is shown a fragment of a similar antler, which has 
been cut off near the root. 

Boars’ tusks occurred fairly plentifully everywhere. They are chiefly very small in size 
and unworked; fifteen examples of this kind were found in the House of the Dagger alone. 
Whether they were used as implements of some sort or are merely the remnants of food 
eaten in the house 1s not certain; perhaps both explanations are correct. 

Animal bones were encountered in almost all the trenches, usually in small fragments 
which had apparently been cracked so that the marrow could be extracted. Sheep or goats 
and swine were certainly represented, and there were not a few huge teeth of larger animals. 
The quantity of such bones found in the street and the alley shows clearly where the rubbish 
from the houses was thrown. 


Stone 

1. Fragment of a female figurine of the usual Cycladic type (Fig. 183). It is made of 
island marble, rather thin and flat. The head is missing, also the right shoulder and the 
lower part of the body from the waist down; the left shoulder and arm are likewise damaged. 
Height, 0.10 m.; width, 0.087 m.; thickness, ca. 0.02 m. The 
arms, which in their upper part are marked off from the body 
on either side by a narrow groove, are folded across the 
abdomen, the left above the right. No hands are indicated, 
the arms merely tapering to a narrow blunt end. Below the 
arms appears a fairly deep horizontal line, which, near the 
left hip, meets a similar line coming obliquely from below; 
there was here no doubt a triangle similar to that on so 
many Cycladic figurines.! Above the fracture at the back 
appears the upper end of the groove by which the legs were 
differentiated. 

The fragment was found before the excavations began 
by Dr. L. M. Prindle, who observed it lying on the surface 
ecu been tos of the ground near the centre of the hill at a point where 

Ficurine or Cyctapic Type Trench VI was later dug. No further example came to light 

during the excavations. 

Marble figurines of the Cycladic type hitherto discovered on the mainland, in Southern 
Greece at least, are extremely rare, and the battered fragment from Zygouries acquires 
importance from that fact. Two specimens said to be from Sunium are exhibited in the 
National Museum at Athens; but the other figures of marble which have come to light in 
Attica and the Peloponnesus show no Cycladic connection whatsoever; on the contrary 
they are evidently very closely related to the steatopygous type so well represented among 
the neolithic remains in Thessaly. Our specimen from Zygouries, as appears indeed from 
its material, is without doubt an imported article, brought over from one of the islands; and 
it offers very significant evidence of the intercourse which must have been carried on be- 
tween eastern Peloponnesus and the Aegean during the Early Helladic Period. 

‘Cf. Tsountas, Ed. ’Apx., 1898, p. 196, Pl. 10, 1. 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 195 


2. Fragment of a small dish or shallow bowl of rather fine-grained white island marble 
(PLare XXI, No. 7), found among the masses of Early Helladic sherds filling a dothros 
in the steep west scarp of the hill. The rim is plain on the outside, and has a slightly raised 
edge on the inside, which appears in our illustration. The bottom of the vase is broken away, 
but it appears to have had a raised base like that common on marble pots from the Cyclades. 
The curve of the rim indicates that the diameter of the dish was approximately 0.084 m. 

3. Fragment of a small vessel of greenish gray stone containing numerous crystals, 
probably some kind of marble (PLareE XXI, No. 8). It may have been a bowl, or more 
probably a pyxis. It stood on a slightly raised base, 0.035 m. in diameter, the centre of which 
is concave, so that the vessel rested only on a narrow ring along the circumference. The 
fragment is preserved only to.a height of 0.026 m. Its outside surface, including the con- 
cavity of the base, is smoothly polished; but the inside seems to have been dug out rather 
carelessly, as a result of which the interior is very uneven and rough, and the wall of the 
vase is not of uniform thickness. This roughness of the inner surface in contrast to the 
smooth polish of the exterior suggests that the vessel had a narrow mouth which did not 
permit careful finishing inside; and for this reason it seems more likely that the shape was 
that of a pyxis. 

4. Fragment of a large vessel (Fig. 185, No. 1), a chance find from Trench VI. The white 
marble, of which it is made, with its fairly large crystals, seems to be an island variety, 
resembling that from Naxos, and the vessel is almost surely of Early Helladic date. Only 
a portion of the flat base and the adjoining side to a height of 0.06 m. are preserved. That 
the pot was of large dimensions is shown by the thickness of the walls (ca. 0.02 m.); the 
curve of the base indicates a lower diameter of 0.18 m. Both the inner and the outer sur- 
faces are much weather-worn and the original finish, which seems to have been fairly smooth, 
but not heavily polished, is no longer in good condition. The vase must have had a fairly 
wide mouth, since it permitted the interior to be nicely worked; but not enough is preserved 
to allow the exact shape to be determined. 

5. Fragment of a flat vessel, probably a palette, made of white limestone, almost a 
marble, containing many small crystals (Fig. 184). Height, 0.055 m.; preserved length, 
0.144 m.; width, 0.112 m. Found in the northeast quarter of the House of the Pithoi. The 
palette was rectangular in shape and the fragment is from one corner. It had a flat bottom 
which is pretty smoothly worked, and the side is rounded off toward the upper edge. 
Along the edge ran a low rim, 0.012 m. high above the interior, and 0.025 m. wide. From it 
the interior slopes gradually downward toward the centre where there was a deep rounded 
hollow. 

6. Fragment from one side of a large palette of dark micaceous schist, found in House 
Y (Fig. 185, No. 2). Height, 0.043 m.; preserved length, 0.204 m.; breadth, 0.109 m. The 
bottom was rounded, rising in a curve to the rim. The palette seems to have been rectangu- 
lar in shape, but the shallow, basin-like interior probably had an oval outline; this may be 
deduced from the rim, which is not of uniform width, but increases gradually in a slight 
curve from a minimum of 0.02 m. as it progresses toward the end of the fragment. The rim 
rises only 0.01 m. above the interior of the vessel, which is rather uneven and seems to have 
been worn out in grooves. 


196 


THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Figure 184. FRAGMENT oF STONE PALETTE, 
Earty He ttapic PEriop 


1 2 


Figure 186. Five SMALL PestLes or PotycHromMe MARBLE, FROM YIRIZA 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 197 


In the National Museum at Athens are several examples of large palettes made from the 
same kind of material; the closest analogies come from the tombs excavated by Tsountas 
in Siphnos and Syra (E¢. ’Apy., 1899, pp. 75 and 100). 

7. The Early Helladic tombs yielded six beads of stone, and a seventh came from the 
settlement. As very few beads of this period have hitherto been published, a brief descrip- 
tion may be offered here. 

Piate XX, No. 12. Tiny cylindrical bead of chalcedony; diameter, 6.5 mm.; height, 3.5 
mm. It is very nicely cut and is pierced longitudinally; the hole was bored from one side 
with a conical drill. Found near skull No. 5 in Tomb XX. 

Pirate XX, No. 4. Cylindrical bead of fine striated chalcedony; diameter, 16 mm.; 
height, 5.5 mm. Neatly cut and polished, and pierced for stringing. The hole is broader at 
one end than at the other and was clearly bored right through from one side with a conical 
drill. Found near the north end of Tomb VII. 

Piate XX, No. 2. Cylindrical bead of fine chalcedony; diameter, 9.5 mm.; height, 4.5 
mm. Well cut, though the ends are not quite parallel, and the bead 1s therefore not a perfect, 
cylinder; highly polished, and bored with a conical drill from one side. Found near the east 
side of Tomb VII. 

Pirate XX, No. 15. Flat cylindrical bead of chalcedony with a milky film on one side; 
diameter, 8.5 mm.; height, 3 mm. It is beautifully cut and polished, with edges rounded, 
and is pierced for stringing. Found in House L inside a small shallow bowl which lay on the 
floor. 

Piate XX, No. 6. Small cylindrical bead of soft green stone; diameter, 5.5 mm.; height, 
3 mm. The string hole, which is bored from one side with a conical drill, does not quite 
follow the axis of the cylinder, Found in sifting the earth from Tomb VII. 

Pirate XX, No. 13. Small, flat-round bead of grayish black stone. The surface is badly 
damaged and not many traces are left of the original good polish. The bead has a large 
string hole which seems to have been bored half way from each side. Diameter, 14 mm.; 
height, 8 mm.; found in sifting the earth from Tomb XX. 

Piate XX, No. 3. Bead of speckled grayish green stone, 0.03 m. long, 0.02 m. high, and 
0.0125 m. thick. It has approximately the shape of a human foot, and a large string hole 
passes through the “‘ankle.”’ The hole was bored from both sides with a conical drill and the 
junction at the centre was not quite true. On the bottom of the foot are seven shallow bor- 
ings, arranged in pairs, except for a single one on the heel. Presumably this bead was used 
as a seal and the ‘“‘ankle”’ served as a handle to facilitate manipulation in making an 1m- 
pression. The markings on the lower face may have some amuletic significance, and one 
may wonder if the mystic character of the number seven goes back to Early Helladic times. 
Some Cretan parallels to this amulet are discussed in the section on chronology (p. 218). 

8. Nine small stone spools or pestles were found with a fairly wide distribution over the 
site. They differ considerably in size and proportions, the smallest example having a length 
of 0.031 m. and a diameter of 0.011 m., and the largest being 0.052 m. long and 0.03 m. 
in diameter. They were made of many different kinds of stone, ranging from marble or white 
limestone to bluish black ‘‘Eleusinian”’ stone. In most cases an effort seems to have been 
made to select material marked by veining or bright colors, and the pestles were neatly 


198 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


finished with a smooth polish, which all combines to give a very pretty effect, as may be 
seen in our illustration (PLATE XXII, Nos. 13-21). They are characteristic household imple- 
ments common enough at all Early Helladic sites and found in the Cyclades as well (two 
from Tomb 338 at Chalandriane in the island of Syra, ’E¢. ’Apy., 1899, Pl. 10, Nos. 35, 36). 
Examples came to light at Korakou and at Gonia in Corinthia, and some particularly at- 
tractive specimens from Yiriza, a small Early Helladic settlement just west of Gonia, are 
published here in Figure 186. 

These objects are almost certainly pestles, though they show little trace of wear; they 
may have been used for powdering colors in small palettes — a practice, for which Tsountas 
so acutely observed the evidence in the Cyclades, possibly connected with the custom of 
tattooing. 


Ficure 187. Currinc or Sawine ImpLeMents oF Fitnt or Cuert, Earty HELiapic Periop 


The two spools of terracotta described above (pp. 190 f.) are very similar to these stone 
examples except that they have concave instead of convex or flat ends. They certainly could 
not have been employed for crushing matter of any hardness and presumably had a quite 
different purpose from that of the stone pestles. 

Obsidian was found in abundance everywhere about the settlement. The quantity of 
small chips and fragments was very great, and there were also many remnants of cores from 
which all possible blades and flakes had been struck off. Flakes and blades themselves were 
likewise very common. The greatest number was collected from the floors of House L, 
but all the Early Helladic houses were well provided. Usually these blades were not of 
large size; they average distinctly smaller than those found in the Cyclades, and many 
indeed are extraordinarily slender and delicate. The longest blade had a length of only 
0.068 m. No illustrations are offered here except for a single core (PLATE XX, No. 24) and 
a delicate blade from Tomb VII (PLare XX, No. 5). 

All this obsidian is very dark in color and almost opaque except at the thinnest points 
along a sharp edge. It is, of course, an imported material at Zygouries and seems to be of 
Melian origin; the great quantity that came to light shows that this inland settlement must 
have been a good market for traders in obsidian. 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 199 


One small arrowhead of the same material was found in the House of the Pithoi and is 
apparently of Karly Helladic date (unless it had worked its way down from the Mycenaean 
layer across the northeast part of the house). It is of a short broad type (PLare XX, No. 
23), not symmetrically shaped, nor worked with the delicacy characteristic of Mycenaean 
arrowheads. Length, 0.0285 m.; width, 0.0175 m. It is very crudely barbed. 

Flint was also utilized very generally at Zygouries, if one may judge by the number of 
pieces found. The numerous small shapeless bits were perhaps used for striking sparks to 
light a fire. There were likewise many long narrow flakes (Fig. 187), almost exactly similar 
to the blades of obsidian in shape, but frequently provided with teeth along one or both 
cutting edges, and thus resembling small crude saws. They are made of several different 
kinds of chert or flint and occur in a variety of colors: black, brown, brick-red, yellow, 
cream, and white. 

Although the Early Helladic settlement belongs to a stage undoubtedly much later than 
the beginning of the Bronze Age and the inhabitants were able to produce a weapon of so 
advanced a type as the dagger described above (p. 182), they had by no means given up 
the use of implements of stone. Nine celts were found, coming from all quarters of the hill, 
all of which are shown in PLate XXII. They are mainly of two different kinds, one of which 
may be described as long and narrow, and the other as short and broad. 

Those belonging to the first group are fairly large celts, almost round in section, slender 
in proportion to their length, and usually having more or less pointed butts (Nos. § to g). 
The edge has been ground from both sides. Nos. 6 and 7 were apparently never finished, 
as they have not been worked down to a sharp cutting edge. The smallest, No. 5, is 0.054 
m. long, 0.037 m. wide, and 0.024 m. thick; the largest, No. 7, is 0.099 m. long, 0.037 m. 
broad, and 0.033 m. thick. 

The celts of the second type are small and approximately heart-shaped (PLate XXII, 
Nos. 1 to 3). They are much more neatly worked than those of the first type, beautifully 
polished, and ground from both sides to a sharp edge. The smallest example of the three 
(No. 1) measures 0.038 m. long, ca. 0.038 m. wide, and 0.013 m. thick; the largest (No. 2) 
varies only slightly: length, 0.044 m.; breadth, 0.038 m.; thickness, 0.013 m. 

No. 4 in the same figure, which is also well made, differs in shape from both the fore- 
going types. It is narrow relatively to its length, and roughly rectangular in section, re- 
sembling a celt from the acropolis of Chalandriane in Syra (’E®¢. ’Apy., 1899, p. 123, Pl. 10, 
No. 37). | 

The material of which these celts were made is of several varieties: a hard bluish black 
stone is the commonest, occurring in five examples; two others are of greenish stone; one 
is gray; and one is pink. None of them were bored for the attachment of a handle; they were 
no doubt held by means of a piece of cleft wood or fastened in a socket made of deer-horn 
in the manner so well attested for the neolithic period in Thessaly. 

Whetstones or hones were represented by three specimens (PLate XXII, Nos. 10, 11, 
12), one from House L, one from the House of the Dagger, and the third from the scanty 
contents of pithos No. 3 in the bed of the stream. The latter, No. 12, is thin and made of 
bluish black stone; the other two, of grayish stone, are fairly thick and heavy. All three 
show considerable wear on both flat surfaces. 


200 THE EXCAVATIONS@ATY ZY GOURIES 


Pounders or grinders were the commonest of all these stone implements, more than 
twenty examples being found on the floors of the houses and elsewhere about the site. 
The selection shown in Figure 188 illustrates all the various shapes and sizes. 

The majority are roughly cubical, or at least have six more or less flattened sides, any 
of which might be employed for pounding or grinding. Others are almost cylindrical in 
shape, sometimes with the sides worked indifferently into a series of approximately plane 
surfaces; and in this type the top and bottom are usually worn from use in rubbing. Three 
are very nearly spherical (No. 9), two are somewhat conical (Nos. 3 and 7), and one is 
crudely bell-shaped (No. 5). In these three cases the bottom is the only rubbing surface. 
The largest pounder, which is of the type with six faces (No. 13, from Trench V), is 0.095 
m. long, 0.077 m. wide, and 0.065 m. thick. The smallest, of the conoid shape, but with 


Ficure 188. Srone Pounpers AnD Grinpers, EArty Hetiapic Periop 


rather elliptical bottom (No. 1, from House U), is 0.031 m. high and has an extreme diameter 
of 0.026 m. on its lower face. 

These pounders were made of different kinds of stone, most commonly a bluish black 
variety similar to the pebbles and small boulders in the beds of the streams about Hagios 
Vasilios. Others are gray, white, or yellow stones, apparently from the same source. Two 
seem to be of some sort of volcanic material (one of these is the bell-shaped specimen) 
similar to that utilized for the millstones. It was, no doubt, in conjunction with these latter 
that the pounders were chiefly used, probably in crushing or grinding grain. 

There remain to be mentioned, to complete the list of miscellaneous objects of Early 
Helladic date, only the millstones, of which a good many examples came to light. They 
seem to have been regarded as necessary pieces of household furniture and one or more 
appeared in each house. They are the usual saddle-querns, rather narrow in proportion to 
their length and have roughly elliptical ends. In size they vary considerably, but in general 
two types may be distinguished: in one the top is a flat even surface; the other has a curved 
top, being hollowed out longitudinally. This rubbing surface is in all cases smoothly worn. 
The under side in both types is rounded and only roughly worked, giving a shape suitable 
for holding in the lap. The material of which they are made is invariably a hard volcanic 
formation (vesicular lava). 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 201 


Mipp_Le Hettapic PEriop 


The only miscellaneous objects of this period from Zygouries are those found in Tomb I, 
and they were not numerous. They are all shown in Figure 189 and include the following: 


Bronze 

A spiral of bronze wire; diameter 0.028 m. It is made of rather slender wire, circular in 
section, which makes only one and one-half revolutions and has slightly tapering ends. 
From the position in which it was discovered, close against the skull, it seems likely that 
it had served as a hair fastener. 

Two fragmentary wire loops, perhaps from a similar spiral, with a diameter of ca. 0.024 
m. They are made of thin wire roughly rectangular in section. 

Six small fragments of a ring which had a diameter of ca. 0.027 m. The circle is not com- 
plete, and the pieces may belong to a spiral similar to that described above. The wire is 
round. 


Terracotta 

A whorl very much like those of the Early Helladic Period, except that it is finished with 
a somewhat smoother surface and has a base which is concave underneath. It is illustrated 
in Figure 179, No. 1. 


Bone 

Fragment of a small round pin; preserved length, 0.038 m. At least one half of it, in- 
cluding the point, is missing. It has a rounded head, smaller in diameter than the shaft 
itself. 


Stone 

Nineteen beads of natural crystal, grayish white in color and almost transparent, which 
formed part of a necklace. The beads, which are small and not uniform in size, have been 
crudely worked into a cylindrical shape. They are very regularly pierced and the hole was 
apparently bored half way from each side. So far as I can find, no parallel to these crystal 
beads is available from the Middle Helladic Period. 


Paste 

Fifteen beads of paste, which from their place of finding seem to have belonged to the 
necklace mentioned above. There are two varieties of material and five different shapes. 

Nine are made of fairly firm fine paste, dark gray in color; they include one of spherical 
shape, one (which is also ribbed) like a sphere flattened at its poles, and seven long and 
narrow examples resembling olive pits (one of which is in fragments). All are regularly 
pierced for stringing. 

Six are made of a somewhat more porous paste, white in color, although the original 
surface, which has almost entirely disappeared, seems to have been gray. One is of conoid 
form; the others (one in fragments) are irregular disks of no great thickness. These also are 
pierced with string holes. 


202 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Ficure 189. Miscettangous Opsjyects From Toms J, Minpite Hexiapic Periop 


Late He.tiapic PErtop 


The objects of Late Helladic date, which come next in order, all belong to the third 
stage of the Period. 


Bronze 

The bronze knife (Fig. 190, No. 1) found in the “drain trap” just above and west of the 
Potter’s Shop (No. 15 on the plan, Prats II) has a length of 0.22 m., including the broken 
tip, which was recovered. Of this total the handle occupied 0.08 m. and the blade 0.14 m. 
The latter is long and slender, tapering from a width of 0.012 m., at its junction with the 
handle, to a sharp point. It has one keen cutting edge; the other is much thicker and flat. 
Incised lines or small grooves run along the top of the blade, parallel to the edge, two on 
one side, three on the other, with slightly raised ridges between; and these are the only form 
of decoration. 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 203 
The haft end of the knife has both edges sharply flanged at an angle of go’, forming on 


each face a long groove or socket into which the handle was fitted. As there are no rivet 
holes, the handle was probably wide enough so that its two faces could be fastened to- 
gether outside the line of the bronze shank. It was presumably made of wood or bone, 


3 ‘ 


Ficure 190. Bronze Knire, Bronze SickLE, AND OxpsIDIAN ARROWHEAD, Late He ttapic Periop 


and is missing; at its outer end, however, it had a small ornamental knob of ivory, traces of 
which were preserved. Unfortunately it was found in a state so ruinous that its original 
shape could not be recognized with certainty, and it was only possible to see that it had once 
borne some kind of carved decoration. 

From the Late Helladic layer reached by a trial trench below the west foot of the hill 
came the small sickle-shaped knife shown in Figure 1go, No. 2. Length, 0.195 m.; greatest 
breadth, 0.022 m. It has a rather thin blade, which tapers in a curve to a rounded end. 
The shank is very short (0.03 m.) and has one large carelessly made hole for the rivet or 
nail by which the handle was fastened. Similar knives or sickles, found at Mycenae, are 
exhibited in the National Museum at Athens, and 
the type is well known elsewhere. LE, 

The only other object of bronze is a well-made 
point, perhaps the head of a small spear or javelin 

: : Ficure 191. Bronze JAVELIN Pont, 
(Fig. 191). Length, 0.057 m., of which ca. 0.025 Ree aie: Ditton: 

m. belongs to the head proper and the rest to the 

shank by which it was fastened to the shaft. The end of this shank is bent, but whether 
this is original or due to later accidents does not appear. The head is rectangular in sec- 
tion (measuring at its widest 0.007 m. on a side) and tapers to a sharp point. 


Terracotta 

The objects of terracotta comprised chiefly figurines of the familiar Third Late Helladic 
type, but there were also a few fragments of animal figures and a small table. 

Apart from insignificant shattered bits, of which there were not a few, some forty 
figurines were found. Three of these, from Tomb XXXIII (Fig. 192), and eleven from 


204 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Tomb XXXV (Fig. 193) are complete; the rest are in a more or less fragmentary 
condition. 

The three from Tomb XXXIII are all of the same type, though they differ in size. They 
stand on a solid columnar stem with spreading foot, have a body with prominent breasts 
and with crescent arms, a narrow head with 
pinched-out face, and a circular hat, concave 
on top. The painted decoration, though vary- 
ing in details, is essentially the same on all 
three figures. The hat on its upper surface is 
plain or ornamented by a circle or a cross; on 
its under side it bears a border of fillets or 
short vertical dashes. The ridge of the nose 
is marked by a line and the eyes by dots. 


Ficure 192. Figurines or TERRACOTTA FROM TOMB Around the neck isa painted collar. The body 
XXXII, Late Hevuapic III 


bears a series of vertical or oblique stripes; 
the waist is indicated by a band, and the stem carries two, three, or four vertical lines. 
The largest figurine is 0.118 m. high, 0.06 m. wide; the smallest has a height of 0.077 m., 
width of 0.043 m. The paint in one case 1s reddish brown, in one brownish black, and in 
the third black. 

The eleven figurines from Tomb XXXV are all of the crescent type and all wear concave 
hats. Two stand on a hollow stem; nine have a solid columnar stem like that exemplified 
in Tomb XX XIII. Seven of these nine wear a plastic braid of hair down their backs instead 
of the painted line of hair which usually appears on the others. The plastic braid curiously 
rises from the middle of the top of the hat (Fig. 193, all five examples in the lower row), — 
surely an unreasoning transfer from the bare-headed type of figurine, which is also a very 


FiGuRE 193. Ficurines oF TERRACOTTA FROM TomB XXXV, Late He tapic III 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 205 


common one in Late Helladic III, — it extends in some cases only to the base of the neck, 
in others to the middle of the back. The painted decoration of these eleven examples 1s 
closely similar to that on the three from Tomb XXXIII, differing only in small details. 
The largest figurine from Tomb XXXV (No. 341) is 0.126 m. high and 0.058 m. wide; the 
smallest (No. 340) measures 0.051 m. in height and 0.026 m. in width. The paint is in some 
instances red, in others brown, in still others black, but often varies, where thin, to an inter- 
mediate shade. 

From the trench dug through the terrace north of the Potter’s Shop, which produced 
some early pottery of Late Helladic III, came eight fragmentary figurines, all with a solid 
columnar stem. One is merely the base, giving no evidence for the shape of the body; 


FicurE 194. Figurines oF TERRACOTTA FROM THE SETTLEMENT, Late Hettapic III 


of the remaining seven one belongs to the crescent type, so well represented in the two 
tombs, and this was found in the uppermost layer. The other six are quite different in shape, 
having a body resembling a flat circular disk (Fig. 194, No. 3). The heads preserved are 
hatted (Fig. 194, No. 1), and the decoration of the body is the same as in the crescent type 
(Fig. 194, No. 3). One of the six (Fig. 194, No. 2) stands out in conspicuous contrast with the 
others, since it has arms represented plastically. The right arm is bent at the elbow and 
crosses the bust, the left arm is bent more sharply, with the hand extended toward the face. 
The left side of the figurine is unfortunately broken, and the head too is missing. 

The discovery of six examples of the disk-shaped type, as opposed to only one of the 
crescent type, in this early context of Late Helladic III suggests the conclusion that the 
figurines of the former type are the older of the two, and that this shape goes back to the 
beginning of the Third Late Helladic Period. But until further evidence is forthcoming from 
other sites and until more is known concerning the origin and purpose of Mycenaean 
figurines it is certainly more prudent to reserve opinion. It may be that the two types were 
made to serve quite different purposes; the crescent figures may have been intended purely 


206 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


for funereal use, those with disk-shaped body for household service. In the meantime this 
evidence from Zygouries is offered for what it is worth. Several other examples of the disk- 
like variety came to light on the slopes of the hill, some with a bare head; a plastic braid 
also occurred on these latter. 

In the drain trap above the Potter’s Shop were found five heads and two bodies of 
figurines. Of the heads four have hats and one is bare; none has a plastic braid. The two 
bodies (Fig. 194, Nos. 4, §) stand on a hollow stem and have a form differing from both of 
the types discussed above, though they must be closely related to the discoid variety. 
They have plastic arms folded so that they meet over the breast, but the execution is so 
casual and conventionalized that they are hardly recognizable as arms. 


Figure 195. Ficurine 
or TERRACOTTA, FEMALE 
Ficure with CHILD aT 
Breast, Late HELLapic Figure 196. Sma. “TABLE” oF TERRACOTTA 
Il] FROM Toms XXXYV, Lare He.tapic III 


Still another fragment deserves illustration here (Fig. 195), as a crude attempt to repre- 
sent a mother with an infant child at her breast. The subject, though not extremely com- 
mon, is known from other Mycenaean sites (Stais, Collection Mycénienne du Musée Na- 
tional, pp. 109, 132, No. 2493; Winter, Die Typen der figiirlichen Terrakotten, Part I, p. 2, 
No. 2). This example, which has the body in the form of a disk, was found below the west 
slope of the hill. 

Five fragments of terracotta figures of animals came from the trench dug through the 
Potter’s terrace, and a few others were collected at other places about the hill. None of 
these merit more than mention, and the only piece illustrated (Fig. 193, No. 346) is a 
fragment from Tomb XXXV which looks like the head of a bull with a snout and two curv- 
ing horns (spread 0.057 m.), but may equally well be the two hind legs and tail of some 
other animal. It is decorated with stripes of brownish black paint. The rest of the animal was 
not in the tomb, as all the earth was carefully sifted without a trace of it being found. 

The only other object in this category is a small table from Tomb XXXV (Fig. 196, No. 
334); height, 0.03 m.; length 0.104 m.; width, 0.068 m. It stands on four legs and is ap- 
proximately rectangular, but with somewhat bulging sides. The top is not level, but forms 
a shallow concavity surrounded by a slightly raised rim. The decoration, except for a smear 
of paint down each leg, is confined to the upper surface; it consists of four transverse rows 
of dashes and dots at one end, while the rest of the space is filled by eight broad wavy lines 


MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 207 


running longitudinally. There is also a band of paint along the rim. The “table” may per- 
haps be intended to represent a bier used to convey the dead to the tomb. 


Ivory and Bone 
The ivory knob at the end of the handle of a knife has already been mentioned, and no 
other objects of the same material came to light. Worked bone was not represented at all; 
and the only object which might be recorded here is a large boar’s tusk from which a slice 
has been cut on one side. The strip cut away must have had approximately the shape of 
the curved flat pieces familiar from Mycenae, which, on account of their tough material, 
3 


“\ 


Ficure 197. MisceELttangeous Osyecrs or STEATITE, FROM Toms XXXIII 


were apparently applied in closely fitting rows as defensive armor on the conical helmets 
worn by warriors. 


Stone 

The stone objects of the Late Helladic Period were not numerous. They include two 
lentoid sealstones, one bead, a dozen whorls, and four shanked buttons, all of steatite, two 
beads of carnelian, an arrowhead of obsidian, and a small flat piece of polished Crocean 
marble. 

One of the seals (Fig. 198, No. 4, from the impression) was found in the drain trap men- 
tioned above. It represents in intaglio, carved in rather poor style, a goat or stag standing 
to left with head drawn back. Five slanting strokes just before the body of the animal may 
be meant to indicate foliage or scenery, perhaps the branches of a tree. Under the body, 
between the fore and hind legs, is a curious object or sign which I cannot identify, and an- 
other above the back is equally unrecognizable. 

The second seal (Fig. 197, No. 3) is from Tomb XXXIII and is cut in a style so impres- 
sionistic and so careless that the representation is almost impossible to distinguish. It 
seems to be a fantastic quadruped to left, with a huge body, high slender neck depicted by 
a single line, and a goatlike head from which rise branching antlers. The confused group 
of strokes directly before the body may again be an attempt to render scenery; and the whole 
looks like a very much debased version of the same kind of subject as that on the preceding 
seal. 

The bead, of greenish steatite (Fig. 197, No. 4), is from Tomb X XXIII; it is of a double 
conoid shape, with a deep groove around its middle, and is pierced transversely for stringing. 


208 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


The whorls from Tombs XX XIII and XXXV are shown in Figure 197, Nos. 1 and 5, 
and Figure 198, No. 3; those from the settlement are of the same familiar type, though they 
offer many varieties of size and color. They were no doubt used as buttons (cf. Persson, 


Figure 198. MisceELLANEouS OBJECTS FROM 
Toms XXXV (1-3) AND IMPRESSION OF A SEAL 
FROM DrRatn-TRAP (4) 


Bulletin de la Société Royale des Lettres de Lund, 
1922-1923, pps 37 f.): 

The buttons with a shank are sufficiently illus- 
trated by the very good examples from Tomb 
XXXIII (Fig. 197, No. 2) and from Tomb XX XV 
(Fig. 198, No. 1). For the shape reference may be 
made to Professor Persson’s remarks, cited above; 
in the Bulletin de la Société Royale des Lettres de 
Lund, 1924-1925, Plate XXXVI, Persson illus- 
trates a whole series of these buttons, showing the 
evolution of the shape. | 

From Tomb XXXV came a small, short cylin- 
drical bead of carnelian (Fig. 198, No. 2) in 
damaged condition. 

A tiny barrel-shaped bead of red carnelian was 
found in the area just south of the Potter’s Shop. 
It has a preserved length of 0.011 m. (both ends 
are broken) and is pierced longitudinally. 

This list may be concluded with the mention 
of an admirably worked arrowhead of obsidian 
from Trench V (Fig. 190, No. 3); length, 0.034 m.; 


width, 0.014 m. It has a beautifully symmetrical shape, with curving sides and much re- 
duced barbs, and is similar to examples from Mycenae and elsewhere. 


GEOMETRIC PERIOD 


A plain ring, made of a wide band of bronze thickened along its median axis so as to be 
almost ridged; width, 0.015 m.; diameter, 0.025 m. (Fig. 199). The color is very reddish, 
due to decay of the bronze. Found in Tomb XVIII. 


Ficure 199. Bronze 
Rinc, GEOMETRIC 
PeriopD, FRoM Toms 


XVIII 


CHAPTER VI 


CONCLUSION 


HE results of the excavations at Zygouries, which have now been set forth in 

detail, offer some interesting points of comparison with the discoveries made at 

other sites in the Aegean area. From the differences here, resemblances there, 
analogies in one direction, contrasts in another, one may legitimately recognize very close 
contact on one side, almost if not quite total lack of connection on another; though naturally 
this method of comparison must be applied with caution. The objects recovered are very 
largely the result of chance in selection, preservation, and discovery; equally important 
or even far more significant objects may by the same chance have escaped notice, been 
lost, or have suffered complete destruction. Nor is it always certain that two objects 
of precisely identical form are necessarily related or even descended from a common 
prototype; in dealing with simple primitive artifacts which presumably were made to 
serve the same purpose, one cannot deny the possibility of independent origin. But when 
striking similarities show themselves in many instances among several different classes of 
remains from two widely separated areas, and are accompanied by objects of which the 
imported character is beyond a doubt, there can be no question that they indicate close 
interrelations. 

As the preceding four chapters sufficiently show, it was in remains of the Early Helladic 
Period that the site at Zygouries was preéminently rich. The relatively slight depth of 
earth covering the settlement permitted easy exploration on a much more satisfactory 
scale than had hitherto been possible in a Peloponnesian establishment of so early a date; 
and the new material now made available for an understanding of Early Helladic civiliza- 
tion is noteworthy both in quantity and comprehensiveness. It thus becomes especially 
interesting to submit this material to the test of comparison with the contemporary remains 
in other areas. 

It is at the outset clear that we must recognize the complete identity of the culture repre- 
sented at Zygouries with that of the other contemporary settlements in northeastern 
Peloponnesus. A mere glance at the remains is conclusive on this point. As we have seen 
above, Zygouries lay near the intersection of the two main travelled roads connecting 
the Isthmus and the Argolid and naturally must have felt the force of the current of traffic 
passing between these two important centres. The distances are not great, the roads are 
easy, and there can be no question that impulses were speedily transmitted from one side 
or the other. The numerous flourishing settlements in Corinthia must have maintained 
constant and close communications with the towns at Mycenae, the Argive Heraeum, 
Tiryns, and Argos (the Early Helladic establishment of Argos apparently lay on a hill 


called ‘‘Makrovouni,” a short distance to the west of the Aspis toward the ravine of the 
209 


210 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


Charadra; cf. Ilpaxtuca, 1916, p. 76; the potsherds found here are Early Helladic, not 
neolithic) and we have manifestly a unity of civilization in this whole area. 

Apart from the complete general agreement in the remains that have been brought to 
light, only one or two specific points of comparison need be mentioned. In the recent exca- 
vations at the Argive Heraeum the scanty vestiges of a tomb exactly similar to the cave- 
ossuaries of Zygouries were found (4. 7. 4., XXIX, 1925, p. 419). At Tiryns, moreover, 
according to information kindly given me by Dr. K. Miller, fragmentary figurines of 
terracotta have been recovered, belonging to the same type as the specimen from Zygouries 
described above; and among the other small finds were included several examples of the 
peculiar conical objects, which, as we have suggested, probably constituted a second and 
more primitive type of figurine. 

The connections with more distant areas which we may deduce from the evidence re- 
vealed at Zygouries must, therefore, be accepted as applying with equal force to this whole 
homogeneous region of northeastern Peloponnesus; it is in any case obvious that any in- 
fluences from outside must have passed through the gateway on one side or the other before 
they could reach the interior valley of Cleonae. 

The one external region with which direct and close contact was certainly maintained 
was the Aegean, as represented by the Cycladic Islands; and the evidence for this connec- 
tion, which is based on a great many analogies, resemblances, and specific importations, is 
so strong and comprehensive that we must considerably enlarge our ideas of the extent of 
trading relations and traffic in this corner of the world in the early Bronze Age. It has been 
held by many historians that “‘trade”’ and “traffic” in this early period are scarcely more 
than euphemisms for casual raiding enterprises and piracy; but the abundance of contacts 
between Zygouries and the Cyclades, and their character, can hardly mean anything else 
than that there was a fairly well-organized and established commercial activity. It has else- 
where been pointed out that the people dwelling in these two regions during the period 
under discussion were evidently very closely akin, forming doubtless two branches sprung 
from a common parent stem (B. 8. 4., XXII, p. 180); the strong racial ties which almost 
certainly continued to subsist between them, were without doubt sufficiently felt and recog- 
nized to promote the maintenance of mutual intercourse and trade. Indeed there is good 
reason to believe that the same language, though perhaps in dialectal variations, was 
spoken in both areas; a tabulation of the pre-Greek place-names according to their geo- 
graphical distribution, prepared by Dr. Haley, makes it clear that topographical names of 
the same non-Greek character are common to both. 

In the foregoing chapters describing the remains uncovered at Zygouries the most im- 
portant and specific Cycladic analogies have in each case been mentioned; here this material 
will be briefly recapitulated to show its variety and extent. 

In the field of architecture not much can yet be said. The remains of houses of the 
Early Cycladic Period are too scanty to permit a satisfactory comparison. Only at Phylakopi 
in Melos has a considerable settlement of this date been excavated, and here the maze of 
superincumbent remains of the Middle and Late Cycladic towns made it impossible to 
clear a sufficiently large area of the Early city to show the complete plans of representative 


1 This study is ready for publication, but has not yet appeared. 


CONCLUSION ° 211 


houses. The evidence seemed to point to the existence of dwellings composed of single 
rooms as well as of two-roomed houses; and apparently they were built closely together, 
forming after a fashion a more or less connected town plan of the kind which was carried 
to a much more advanced stage of development in the Middle and Late Cycladic Periods. 
No good parallel to the rather characteristic two-roomed houses at Zygouries is available 
among these very scanty remnants of Phylakopi I; but the general aspect of the settlement 
as a whole cannot have been far different from that we have seen at Zygouries. More than 
this we cannot say until fresh discoveries shed more light on the early architecture of the 
islands. 

In a comparison of burial customs and the type of tombs in use the situation is reversed, 
for here the evidence from the Cyclades is especially abundant, while that from Zygouries 
and the mainland is disappointingly meagre. At first impression this evidence, so far as it 
goes, appears to establish a clear-cut difference rather than a similarity of practice. Nothing 
has been found in the islands at all resembling the rude cave-ossuaries in the cemetery at 
Ambelakia; nor on the other hand has the mainland yet produced cist graves of Early 
Helladic date in any way analogous to the type so common and characteristic in the con- 


temporary Cyclades. It is admittedly possible that the shaft graves on the hill of Ambelakia, . 
some of which were found empty of remains, while others had been re-used for burials in the - 
Roman Period, are actually. of Early Helladic construction; but even if this were so, they ' 


could not be regarded as forming a close parallel to the stone-built cists of the islands, and 
the practice of secondary burial seems quite foreign to Cycladic usage. 

This sharp divergence apparent in the type of tomb employed is all the more striking 
in view of the remarkable similarity of the objects found in the graves themselves. For here, 
though the material from Zygouries is not abundant, we meet with certain objects so nearly 
identical with many found among the deposits in the Cycladic tombs that they cannot 
be explained as due to coincidence alone or to anything other than direct and close relations. 
Chief among these are the silver diadems, sadly decayed remnants of which came to light 
in all three of the undisturbed Early Helladic tombs. They are clearly counterparts of the 
diadems found by Tsountas in Amorgos and Syra, of which so many similar examples in gold 
were discovered by Seager in the Early Minoan tombs at Mochlos in Crete. These latter 
frequently bear patterns formed by dots in repoussé technique, a type of ornament recur- 
ring in more elaborate form on the silver band from Chalandriane, and of which faint traces 
may be recognized, as we have noted above, on the crumbling fragments from Zygouries. 
The agreement thus shown in these three regions in depositing with the dead objects of so 
specialized a character as the diadems in question surely points to an identity, in part at 
least, in burial custom. 

The silver and bronze pins from the ossuaries in: the Ambelakia cemetery, moreover, 
are practically replicas of certain pins from the Cycladic tombs, from which circumstance 
perhaps it might be warranted to deduce some degree of similarity in the clothing worn. 
Similarly the spatulae and the tweezers, which again are counterparts of the Cycladic 
examples, may be more than a suggestion that the mainland fashions of toilet were modelled 
upon those prevailing in the islands. The stone beads, also, can be fairly closely matched 
among the objects found in the Cycladic tombs and, though the exact form of the amuletic 


210 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


stamp in the shape of a human foot is not duplicated among the island finds (it occurs in 
Crete), the same principle of talismanic charms seems to be represented. 

The two gold pendants from Tombs VII and XX, which may be earrings, are not yet 
paralleled among the jewelry known from the Cyclades, but certain analogous forms re- 
covered from the tholos tombs of the Mesara (Xanthoudides, op. cit., p. 29; p. 111 and 
Plates XV and LVII, No. 484, from Tholos A at Platanos) imply me their affinities are 
not foreign to the Aegean sphere. 

These coincidences in so great a variety of funeral pretties are surely not due to chance, 
and we are justified in concluding that related customs and practices prevailed in both 
areas, and that there was also regular intercommunication between the two. 

But the close relationship is not shown merely by funeral usage; it appears no less 
strikingly in the pottery. Thus in the early deposit from the west side of the hill at Zygouries 
were found many specimens which are hardly distinguishable from Early Cycladic wares. 
This is especially the case with the incised fabrics which bear in shallow technique the linear 
designs — notably the herring bone — so characteristic of the early group of wares from 
Paros, etc. Some of these examples indeed at Zygouries, from the abundance of mica in 
their clay, seem to be of foreign manufacture, and there can hardly be ground for doubting 
that they are direct importations from the islands. Not only the incised pots, however, 
betray this strong Cycladic connection; many of the fragments of plain ware show it with 
equal clarity. Unfortunately this material was too shattered to allow the reconstruction 
of complete shapes; even though they are not exactly identical with those commonest in the 
islands, the essential kinship of the ware 1s nevertheless unmistakable. The mat impressions 
observed on a good many bases of large coarse pots may be mentioned here, as being 
precisely similar to those found at Phylakopi; and the occurrence of the impress of a leaf 
on the bottom of a small shallow bowl, exactly like the imprints found by Tsountas in 
Amorgos and Syra, is surely not a mere chance coincidence. 

If some of the vases at Zygouries, conspicuously different from the local fabrics by reason 
of their micaceous clay, are, as stated above, clearly importations from the Cyclades (and 
Aegina must presumably be reckoned as belonging to the Cycladic sphere and a very 
probable source of importation), there can hardly be a doubt that the operation was carried 
out reciprocally in both directions. Among the ceramic material from Phylakopi as well as 
that from Naxos and Syra are not a few specimens made of clay quite different from that 
usual in the islands, and almost surely products of mainland potters; the importance of this 
ware as an early link between the two regions has already been pointed out by Dawkins 
and Droop (B. S. 4., XVII, p. 16). 

However great the reciprocal influences may have been, we cannot of course speak of 
an identity of pottery at any time in the two regions, for that would be quite contrary to 
the facts. What we are arguing is that the evidence indicates, not a complete identity of 
civilization, but merely the maintenance of reciprocal relations and connections on a fairly 
regular and comprehensive scale. The bulk of the pottery from the Cyclades was always 
different from that on the mainland; each group stamped with a character of its own. 
The course of development was also quite different, the island ware coming early under 
Cretan influence, which greatly accelerated its development; whereas the mainland ware 


CONCLUSION 213 


seems to have pursued an independent and less rapid evolution, which was finally abruptly 
terminated by the political events which heralded the opening of the Middle Helladic 
Period. 

Enough has been said concerning the pottery, though its testimony must be regarded 
as an important factor in the problem under consideration, and we may now turn to some 
of the objects described in the chapter on the Miscellaneous Objects. 

The bronze dagger from House U is not without significance in this discussion. As we 
have seen, its closest analogy is found in a weapon from a tholos tomb at Platanos in Crete, 
dating from Early Minoan II] — Middle Minoan I; of a rather more advanced type than 
the daggers from Amorgos, it no doubt belongs near the end of the series which begins there; 
and with this somewhat later stage its place of discovery in the Early Helladic settlement 
at Zygouries (Early Helladic III) is in complete agreement. 

It is, however, in the marble figurine and in the vases of stone and marble that we meet 
the most convincing evidence of Cycladic contact. The figurine, even though in a badly 
mutilated state, manifestly declares itself to be of island manufacture both by its material 
and its technique; and the vessels of marble, and the stone palettes are hardly less emphatic 
in the assertion of their Cycladic origin. Here, then, we have a well-defined group of objects 
the importation of which is beyond dispute. And to this may be added the great quantity 
of Melian obsidian found everywhere about the settlement. The stone and marble spools, 
on the other hand, since they seem to be so common at Early Helladic sites, may perhaps 
have been of native workmanship; but even these do not lack Cycladic parallels. 

In view of all these points of contact, which undeniably have a powerful cumulative 
force, it seems to me that the extent of the Cycladic connections of northeastern Pelopon- 
nesus in the Early Helladic Period, as set forth in the opening paragraph of this section, 
has not been unduly exaggerated. The two regions were certainly united by close and 
regular bonds; and the demonstration of this fact in a manner more definite and unmistak- 
able than has heretofore been possible may be looked upon as one of the chief contributions 
of the excavations at Zygouries. 

In comparison with the mass of evidence bearing on the mutual relations between the 
mainland and the Cyclades, the material pointing to contact in other directions 1s relatively 
scanty. But certain objects found, though few in number, are none the less explicit in 
their implication of connections with Crete. 

For the early part of the period, it is true, the evidence is not very tangible; in fact it is 
mainly in considerations of a general nature rather than in specific instances that such a 
connection can be postulated. The pottery of the two areas certainly differs markedly as a 
whole; yet in the best mottled fabrics of Zygouries and other mainland sites it is difficult 
not to recognize a family likeness with the similar but more highly developed ware first 
found by Seager at Vasiliki, and now familiar as a fairly widely diffused Early Minoan type. 
The shapes represented are not at all identical; each sphere has its own characteristic forms; 
and yet here too some degree of affinity is not impossible between the Cretan jugs with 
prominent side spout and the Early Helladic sauceboats. The two forms seem to be the 
expression of a rather similar feeling. But it is perhaps rather the underlying principle 
of the technique of mottling that provides a more substantial bond, though even this is 


214 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


hardly strong enough to justify the assumption that the Minoan fabric stands in a parental 
relation to the ware of the mainland. Perhaps the resemblance is no more than can be ex- 
plained as due to a more remote common origin. 

If this comparative material, which may be referred back to the earliest stages at Zy- 
gouries, is, accordingly, still of very indefinite nature, the latest phase of the Early Helladic 
Period, at all events, has given us some specific and significant analogies. On the architec- 
tural side there is indeed very little sign of connection. The simple two-roomed houses at 
Zygouries have not much, if anything, in common with the many-chambered dwellings 
in Crete, which attained such an astonishing development in Middle Minoan times; nor 
is there yet any trace of larger structures at all comparable to the palatial establishments 
of the Cretan centres. And yet in the town system at Zygouries, however primitive and 
crude it appears, we may perhaps not be wrong in seeing some faint reflection of the “city 
plans” which found their best Early Minoan expression at Mochlos and Pseira and other 
East Cretan sites. 

The evidence from the type of tombs discovered in the Ambelakia cemetery gives sup- 
port for more definite conclusions; for the cave-ossuaries, which up to the present time are 
quite unparalleled in the Cyclades, apparently have some fairly close analogies in Crete. 
Indeed it cannot be doubted that they belong to the same primitive class of interments 
represented variously by the cave burials at Epano Zakro (B. S. 4., VII, pp. 142 ff.), the 
rock shelters at Hagios Nikolaos near Palaikastro (B. S. 4., [X, pp. 336 ff.), and the bone 
enclosures of Palaikastro itself (B. S. 4., XI, pp. 269 ff.; cf. also VIII, pp. 290 ff. and X, pp. 
197 ff.), further examples of which were found at Gournia (Transactions Univ. Pennsylvania, 
I, pp. 20 f.), Hagia Photia (zbzd., I, pp. 183 ff.; Gournia, pp. 56, 60), by Seager at Mochlos 
(Tombs VII, VIII, and XVIII, Mochlos, pp. 56 f., 69 f.), and more recently in an impressive 
example by Xanthoudides at Pyrgos (’Apy. AeAr., 4, 1918, pp. 136 ff.). In most of these 
instances, which are by no means uniform, but exhibit considerable differences in detail, 
we are clearly dealing with secondary interments, a practice which is no doubt also to be 
assumed at Zygouries. It would hardly be safe, nevertheless, on the basis of this community 
of custom to venture a far-reaching theory of interrelations. When we turn to some of the 
small objects found in the settlement, however, we stand on much firmer ground. One need 
not insist too strongly on the import of the bronze dagger which has already been mentioned 
several times as being almost a duplicate of a weapon from one of the tholoi at Platanos. 
But the button seal of terracotta from House Y and the seal impression on the side of an 
unpainted bowl found in House U are unquestionably marks of direct Minoan influence 
and form a welcome addition to the small group of similar objects recently discovered at 
Asine. In his discussion of these finds (Bulletin de la Société Royale des Lettres de Lund, 
1923-1924, pp. 162 ff.), Professor Persson has made it clear that the provenience of these 
mainland specimens 1s to be sought in Crete, where their associations are with the seals and 
stamps found in such abundance in contexts of Early Minoan III and Middle Minoan I. 
The seal and the impression from Zygouries, the nearest Cretan parallels for which have 
been cited above (p. 189), correspond very closely in character to the examples from Asine, 
and like these latter belong to the latest phase of the Early Helladic Period (Early Helladic 
III). To the great chronological importance of this new material, which Professor Persson 


CONCLUSION 215 


has convincingly pointed out, we shall soon return; here we are concerned with it for the 
moment only as establishing beyond reasonable doubt the fact that the Early Helladic 
people of northeastern Peloponnesus kept in touch with their kinsmen of Crete, though the 
contact seems to have been far less sustained than that with the islands of the Cyclades. 

The Early Helladic cultural area certainly extended as far north as the borders of 
Thessaly, perhaps beyond, colored doubtless from place to place by minor local differences; 
but nothing came to light at Zygouries which could be interpreted as constituting any special 
bond in this direction. Some instructive comparisons would surely have offered themselves 
if the contemporary architectural remains at Orchomenos had been revealed in a better 
state of preservation. Unfortunately, however, the buildings at this site had suffered almost 
total destruction and not a single complete plan could be recovered. The existence of rec- 
tangular and apsidal houses side by side, as restored by Bulle from the fragmentary remains, 
is an interesting phenomenon here and introduces an element which is quite foreign to the 
settlement at Zygouries, where the houses were all without exception of rectangular plan. 
Another feature which may also have a local explanation at Orchomenos is the great 
abundance of dothroz, both inside and outside the houses. In the south, as represented by 
Korakou, Gonia, and Zygouries, these pits are far less numerous, though some examples 
do occur. It is curious that not a single dothros was found beneath the floors of the ten houses 
of the settlement excavated at Zygouries; the few examples discovered, lying in the west 
scarp and immediately below the hill, appear to belong to an earlier stage of the period than 
that to which the settlement must be assigned. 

In the pottery too some differences appear, though the bulk of the ware in the two 
regions is very closely similar. The most noteworthy of these differences concerns two classes: 
the early polished red-faced ware, which, accompanied by vases bearing incised decoration 
in the Cycladic style, is very common in the south, is, so far as is yet known, rather scanty 
in the north. On the other hand, the patterned class exhibiting designs in white on a dark 
ground, so abundantly represented at Hagia Marina and at Orchomenos, has, up to the 
present time, appeared only in very small quantity in the south. Indeed, at Zygouries, 
among the vast number of fragments handled, hardly more than half a dozen sherds of this 
type could be recognized. 

It is still too early to attempt an explanation of these differences within the Early 
Helladic sphere; much enlightenment may be anticipated from the excavation of further 
sites in central and northern Greece. With regard to the westward extent of this civiliza- 
tion, we are also still very much in the dark, since intensive exploration in this direction 
has hardly yet begun. The discovery of characteristic Early Helladic pottery at Levkas, 
however, holds out interesting possibilities (Bossert, 4/tkreta, Plate I, 1 and 2). 

In concluding this survey of the external relations of the Early Helladic settlement at 
Zygouries, in so far as they can be recognized from the remains brought to light, we may 
briefly sum up the conclusions reached. Zygouries was a typical small town of northeastern 
Peloponnesus, sharing in a more or less uniform civilization which extended from the south 
of Greece to beyond the Malian Gulf. Lying just beside an important crossing point of land 
communications it seems to have kept in close touch with its neighbors to north and south, 
and in spite of its situation in an interior valley, it was thus by no means isolated. From 


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216 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


the beginning to the end of the period it evidently maintained regular and active communi- 
cation with the Cyclades, and we have seen grounds for believing that a not inconsiderable 
interchange of exports and imports was carried out between the kindred peoples in these 
two areas. This foreign contact by the end of the period had certainly been extended as far 
as Crete, and we have noted the appearance of Cretan influence in the very significant form 
of the use of seals of a characteristic Minoan type. 

In striking contrast with the abundance of material of Early Helladic date the Middle 
Helladic Period at Zygouries offers us nothing for comparison with the results of excavations 
in outside regions. The very paucity of the remains is certainly in itself significant; it must 
mean that the Middle Helladic occupation was of very limited scope. In a period of dis- 
turbance and movement of peoples on a wide scale it is not surprising that this retired in- 
land valley should cease to play a part in the intersectional activity of the day; the external 
contacts of a modest settlement such as this could be maintained only in a time of settled 
peace and security. At all events it seems clear that the hamlet which succeeded the flourish- 
ing Early Helladic town had no independent contact with the outside world, but was merely 
one of the many minor rural positions seized upon by the invaders who swept down through 
the southern mainland and brought Early Helladic civilization to an end; and as such 
its relations were presumably limited to its own immediate homogeneous neighborhood. 

As an unimportant community, perhaps subject to a larger centre, it continued to 
exist into Late Helladic times, attaining in the third stage of this latter period once more 
some measure of prosperity. By this time the rise of great strongholds and the concentration 
of royal power on the mainland had no doubt completely subjected all the outlying small 
towns and reduced them to a common Mycenaeanized cultural level, though open again 
to outside influences which reached them through the capitals. The dependency of Zygouries 
upon Mycenae, at any rate, is complete, and its indirect wider connections require no further 
discussion in this place. 


Chronology 


For the relative chronology of the three Helladic Periods of the Bronze Age the evidence 
from Zygouries comes squarely to the support of the system established on the basis of the 
results of the excavations at Korakou. This has been clearly enough set forth in the pre- 
ceding chapters in the description of the objects found, and not much further argument is 
needed here. It is true that a complete sequence of stratification showing well-marked 
lines of division like that at Korakou was not discovered at Zygouries; but the chief dividing 
line was indicated in another way with equal clarity. The houses of the Early Helladic 
settlement unquestionably came to an abrupt and simultaneous end as the result of a 
conflagration, and were never rebuilt; on the contrary the sites where they had stood were 
for the most part abandoned and only here and there reoccupied by insignificant structures 
of the ensuing period. The sharp break between Early Helladic and Middle Helladic 1s 
amply demonstrated by the great contrast between the abundant remains of the flourishing 
Early Helladic town antedating the fire and the insignificant relics of the subsequent Middle 
Helladic occupation. It is in fact not at all certain that we must not recognize here a stage 
of complete abandonment of the site; the scanty Middle Helladic remains might well be 


CONCLUSION ale 


the result of a new settlement toward the close of the period just before the overwhelming 
inrush of Cretan influences transformed the civilization of the mainland into its Minoan- 
ized Late Helladic form. 

The evolution of this native Middle Helladic culture under the impulse of the transform- 
ing Minoan wand is here, as elsewhere, unmistakable in the remains of the period brought 
to light, even though they are so exceedingly scanty. Thus we see in the pottery Gray 
Minyan ware and Yellow Minyan, and finally, when the Cretan technique of lustrous paint 
has been introduced, this latter fabric metamorphosed with decoration in the Minoan style. 

Thus there can be no doubt of the completely confirmatory bearing of the evidence from 
Zygouries on the threefold division of the Bronze Age in Southern Greece. 

The great mass of ceramic material of Early Helladic date was also sufficiently differen- 
tiated both in character and place of finding to provide useful criteria for the further deter- 
mination and definition of the subdivisions within the period. The triple division suggested 
by the stratification at Korakou was in the main clearly borne out, and I think it is now pos- 
sible to speak with a fair degree of assurance of Early Helladic I, II, and III. A detailed 
discussion of this evidence has already been presented in the chapter on the pottery, and 
only a brief recapitulation will be given here. 

Early Helladic I is marked chiefly by plain polished wares of varying grades of excellence, 
with and without incised decoration similar to the style prevalent in the Cyclades. The 
period also saw the introduction of an excellent lustrous glaze-paint, mostly red in color, 
often mottled red and black, which appears on vases side by side with polished ware. 
No decoration with painted patterns has yet been developed. The material of this stage 
came from the deepest deposits in the trenches below the south and west sides of the hill 
and from a mass of débris filling certain cuttings resembling Jothroz in the west scarp. 
Cycladic influence on this pottery is strong. 

Early Helladic II is distinguished by good glazed pottery, often red, but predominatingly 
black in color, and frequently mottled black and red. The glaze is generally of a firm, 
substantial quality, but not quite so brilliant as the lustrous red of the preceding stage; 
and the beginning of a process of degeneration is distinctly apparent. The old polished ware 
has practically vanished and a new type, finer and more delicate, perhaps imitating metal, 
makes its initial appearance. Patterned ware, on which dark patterns are painted on a light 
ground, is a further innovation. In all these wares the shapes have become much more 
distinctively mainland forms and less suggestive of Cycladic types. The material of this 
stage is represented by the deposits under the floors of the houses, especially in the central 
part of the hill. 

Early Helladic III is the stage to which all the houses of the settlement as revealed by 
the excavations appear to belong. It seems to end with the total destruction of the Early 
Helladic town and perhaps at least a partial abandonment of the site. It is manifestly an 
age of decline and shows the pottery in an advanced state of degeneration. The good red 
and black glaze of the preceding stages is now almost completely lacking; instead, we find 
the vases usually coated with a thin brownish black wash, often almost without lustre. 
One of the most characteristic kinds of ware bears only a partial covering of this thin wash, 
generally on the upper half of the body, or in a band along the rim, and the final step in the 


218 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


degeneration of glaze is represented by a class of similar vases altogether without paint. 
Patterned ware continues in various grades of quality, and before the end a new type ap- 
pears, of which only the scantiest remnants were brought to light, showing patterns in 
thin white pigment on a dark ground. Curiously some of the best examples of the delicate 
polished and mottled ware which began in the preceding stage belong in this final phase, 
and the presence of such fine work among the great masses of debased ware contemporary 
with the settlement is something of a puzzle. As suggested above, the most likely explana- 
tion is that the best efforts of the handicraftsmen were now mainly reserved for other 
materials, and we probably have here a small group of vessels of special types and for 
special purposes, made in imitation of originals in precious metals. 

With reference to the subdivisions within the Middle Helladic Period no new evidence 
was forthcoming at Zygouries, and the same statement holds good for the Late Helladic 
Period as well. The relative position within the long Third Late Helladic stage of the stock 
of vases from the Potter’s Shop has already been sufficiently discussed; and we may now 
pass directly to a consideration of the fresh evidence bearing on the absolute chronology 
of the Early Helladic Period. 

The material in question comprises the bronze dagger from House U, the seal impression 
from the same quarter, and the button seal from House Y; and the amulet from Tomb VII 
must also be included in the list, As already pointed out, the rather advanced type of the 
dagger, later than the specimens from Amorgos, is most nearly paralleled by a weapon 
from a tholos tomb at Platanos in Crete. The tomb was in use during Early Minoan III 
and Middle Minoan I, and this dagger, quite different from the characteristic broad and 
short type of Early Minoan times, belongs clearly to the later group of objects in the tomb. ~ 
The seal impression offers a curvilinear variety of the labyrinth design which, though no 
exact counterpart appears to have been published, must clearly be associated with the 
similar patterns on the later ivory and stone seals from the tholos tombs in the same dis- 
trict of Crete. The closest analogy to our button seal of terracotta likewise comes from the 
same context (the Hagios Onouphrios deposit), and the division of the circular field into 
quarters is a common feature there. The foot-amulet, finally, is almost identical with ex- 
amples from Tholos B at Koumasa (Xanthoudides, The Vaulted Tombs of Mesara, p. 31, 
Nos. 132, 134; Pl. III, 132; Pl. XXVI a, No. 132), and other specimens were found in the 
larger tholos at Hagia Triada (Mem. Inst. Lomb., XX], p. 251, Pl. XI, Fig. 27), in the tholos 
at Marathokephalon (Apy. AeAr., 4, 1918, p. 22, Fig. 8), and at Platanos (Vaulted Tombs, 
p23; PIAL VIL Nowri42); 

All of these objects, which date from the latest phase of the Early Helladic occupation 
at Zygouries, are thus seen to correspond closely with relics found in the tholos ossuaries of 
the Mesara plain. The latter were employed for innumerable successive interments mainly 
during Early Minoan III and Middle Minoan I, and the analogies which they provide for 
the finds at Zygouries seem not to belong to the earliest group of objects found in the tombs. 
The evidence from Zygouries accordingly agrees perfectly with that discovered by the 
Swedish expedition at Asine, where seals and sealings of the same general character were 
recovered from the latest layers of the Early Helladic deposits. The chronological conclu- 
sions which Professor Persson so clearly drew (Bulletin de la Société Royale des Lettres de 


CONCLUSION 219 


Lund, 1923-1924, pp. 162-172) are thus further substantiated through these finds at 
Zygouries, and it may now be regarded as established beyond doubt that the Third Early 
Helladic Period on the mainland in part at least overlapped Middle Minoan I in Crete, 
and came to its end not far from 2000 B.c.! This approximate date is indeed the earliest 
fixed point yet established in the chronology of the mainland. The beginning of the Early 
Helladic age is still wrapped in uncertainties with no definitely datable Cretan (or other) 
connection to fix it. That the period was a very long one, occupying many centuries, cannot 
be gainsaid, but exactly how far back beyond the middle of the third millennium its origins 
may be sought must be left to the elucidation of future excavations. 

In concluding this account of the excavations at Zygouries it may be worth while, so 
far as the evidence brought to light allows, to attempt a brief reconstruction in its general 
lines of the history of the settlement with which we have been dealing. 

No traces of neolithic remains were found anywhere on or about the hill, and the 
earliest occupation must, therefore, date from the Bronze Age. Recent exploration in 
southern Greece has resulted in the discovery of pottery and other relics of the neolithic 
age at several neighboring places in eastern Peloponnesus. Corinthia, the valleys of Nemea 
and Phlius, and Argolis were certainly included in this sphere of early occupation; the short- 
est routes of communication between these points must have led directly through the 
Cleonaean basin, and one might reasonably expect evidence of contemporary habitation 
to come to light here. Up to the present time none has been observed, and if the valley 
actually was occupied in neolithic times the settlement must have stood in another place 
and not on the hill of Zygouries. This shifting of the sites occupied by the settlements, and 
the totally divergent character of the neolithic remains from that of the Early Helladic, 
agree in indicating that we are dealing with the remains of two different peoples, doubtless 
of different race. The neolithic element is, so far as the evidence yet goes, the aboriginal 
population of the country, which we find in possession at the period when archaeological 
records begin. The Early Helladic element appears to be made up of invaders who, judging 
by their Cycladic and Minoan kinship, must have come in from the East, perhaps crossing 
the Aegean from southwestern Asia Minor. With their improved weapons of metal — 
copper and bronze — they seem to have been speedily able to master the native stock, 


1 It is apparently the failure to grasp the fact that Early Helladic III overlapped Middle Minoan I which has led to some 
recent misunderstanding of the chronological system here used for the mainland. The break in the development, on 
which this system of terminology is based, comes at the end of Early Helladic II, which, as we have seen above, must be 
fixed at least as late as the middle of Middle Minoan I, if not later. The Middle Helladic Period with its two subdivisions thus 
corresponds in the main to Middle Minoan II and III. The drawing up of a chronological scheme for a given area is not simply 
a free mathematical problem in which one is given complete liberty to work out a balanced and symmetrical arrangement; 
the case is much more complicated than that, and it is surely naive in speaking of the subdivisions of the Early Helladic 
Period to say that they “should, but on Mr. Blegen’s scheme do not, correspond with the three Early Minoan phases in Crete” 
(Childe, The Dawn of European Civilization, p. 75). Why should they correspond with the three Early Minoan phases in Crete, 
or with the subdivisions in any other area? The system is naturally modelled on Sir Arthur Evans’ Minoan classification, which 
laid the foundations for all subsequent study in the field of Aegean chronology, but when applied to the mainland or to any 
other area outside of Crete, the subdivisions should and must correspond, not with a system worked out on the basis of in- 
ternal evidence for Crete itself, nor with any fixed mathematical formula, but with the actual facts as revealed by excavations 
in the region in question. If they are to have any meaning in themselves they should and must correspond with the stratifica- 
tion. To transfer bodily the whole Minoan system of Crete to the mainland, as Forsdyke has done (Catalogue of the Greek and 
Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, Vol. 1, Part I, p. xxii), is merely to impose an arbitrary arrangement. No scheme 
which fails to take account of the stratification is likely to be of permanent value. 


220 THE EXCAVATIONS AT ZYGOURIES 


and the completion of this conquest inaugurates a long era of quiet growth and develop- 
ment. During this period the remnants of the original inhabitants, who can hardly have 
been totally exterminated, were in all probability slowly and gradually assimilated. 

The invaders were not a nomadic type of people, but lived a settled life in communities 
which they established in favorable positions controlling a region of arable land. A typical 
village of this kind stood on the hill of Zygouries, and the slow evolution and advance 
of its culture, as evidenced by the remains it has left, are no doubt also typical of the 
processes that were going on synchronously throughout the whole of this part of Greece. 
From the testimony of the pottery, this development seems to fall into three main stages, 
though the period is apparently a unity without a break. 

Except for their pottery the first and second of these phases are still very imperfectly 
known. Small pieces of walls uncovered in the deeper levels of the trenches in the west 
central part of the hill indicate that in the second phase, at least, substantial houses were 
erected resting on stone foundations, and rectangular construction was customary. But no 
complete house was cleared, and nothing can be said of the plans. For Early Helladic III, 
the third phase of the period, however, much more evidence is available, enabling us to 
recover a fairly comprehensive picture of the life of the day. 

The village, which was of some size and consisted of many houses built close together, 
was laid out in a fairly orderly manner with streets and lanes. The houses, though simple 
and unpretentious, were solidly built, with heavy stone foundations and superstructure 
of crude brick; they usually consisted of two rooms of unequal size, connected by doors 
which swung in pivots; and in one case at least there was a fixed central hearth. The floors 
were made of hard-packed earth; the roof was flat and built of logs plastered over with clay 
and reeds. Household supplies were kept in large storage jars sometimes ranged in a row 
along the wall of a room. Only one house was of especially large dimensions; perhaps this 
was the home of the chieftain or the headman of the village. 

The dead were buried outside the settlement, presumably at first in separate graves; 
later the bones seem to have been gathered up for secondary burial in small cave-ossuaries. 
With the dead were deposited pottery, implements, and articles of personal adornment 
such as gold pendants, silver diadems, beads, and in one case an amulet. 

The village was evidently a prosperous agricultural community. It seems to have im- 
ported goods on a fairly considerable scale from comparatively distant quarters, and perhaps 
it had commodities of its own to give in exchange. Among these latter may have been 
agricultural produce, livestock — sheep and goats and swine were certainly raised and 
probably larger cattle — perhaps also potter’s clay. Imports included above all obsidian 
from Melos, lava or volcanic stone for millstones and grinders, marble vessels and figur- 
ines from the Cyclades, gold, silver, and bronze; and trade connections with Crete are 
apparent. Such open commercial intercourse between a small town in an upland valley 
on the mainland and regions across the sea implies an age of tranquillity and security from 
hostile incursions; it also implies power and organization to patrol the highways of traffic, 
but whence came the power and who controlled it are questions which cannot yet be 
answered. At all events it hardly seems likely that any considerable concentration of royal 
domain is to be sought at this early date on the mainland itself; the many Early Helladic 


CONCLUSION 221 


settlements which have hitherto been found seem all to have been modest little towns, not 
much, if at all, different from the one we have been describing. 

The flourishing village at Zygouries, which may be taken to represent the final stage 
reached after many centuries in the slow progress of Early Helladic civilization, appears to 
have been abruptly destroyed by fire. The extensive deposits of pottery and other articles 
of furniture lying on the floors of the houses suggest that it was a sudden and unexpected 
catastrophe, and it may not be mere phantasy to recognize a more vivid confirmation of 
this in the cooking pot from the House of the Pithoi, which still contained a large beef bone, 
the remains of the last meal prepared in the house. . 

The occasion of this destruction is not difficult to surmise. It is surely the same as that 
which caused the abandonment of so many settlements in Corinthia and elsewhere ! 
and which left its traces in the layer of ashes and charred remains which covered the final 
Early Helladic town at Korakou; the same as that which introduced a fresh infusion of 
culture into these regions with a new type of house, a new type of burial, and new types of 
pottery. It can have been nothing other than a hostile invasion and conquest, and without 
doubt marks the arrival of a fresh racial element quite different from that which it destroyed. 
Rude and vigorous it certainly was, for it seems to have rolled like an inundation out of 
central Greece over Attica, eastern Peloponnesus and Laconia, reaching at least as far as 
the Helos Plain. One of its chief distinguishing marks is the wheel-made gray Minyan 
pottery it brought with it, and the appearance of this ware in quantities at Melos shows 
that the movement was felt far down among the Cyclades. 

This invasion probably worked itself out in the course of the twentieth century B.c., 
after which succeeded another interval of quiet. But the town of Zygouries, which had fallen 
a victim to the inroad, was evidently not reoccupied and rebuilt on its previous scale; indeed 
it may have been partially or completely abandoned for some time. Eventually, however, 
it was again occupied — the situation is a very eligible one — though probably only by 
a small hamlet. To this latter must be attributed the Middle Helladic pottery brought to 
light in the excavations and the cist graves found on the hill, for in this period burial within 
the settlement was customary. The houses must have been few and perhaps widely sepa- 
rated, as only scanty remains of walls were found. 

Like all other Middle Helladic settlements in southern Greece this too came ultimately 
under the dominating spirit of Minoan influence, and it continued to exist through Late 
Helladic I and II as a Mycenaean station near the intersection of two important roads 
joining the Isthmus with the Argolid. No recognizable architectural remains of these periods 
were found; but in Late Helladic III there came a revival. Many houses were constructed 
on the low ground to the east and west of the hill, but the hill itself seems henceforth to have 
been reserved for a single large mansion, perhaps the residence of the local governor or 
noble, subject to the king at Mycenae. His house was built in a fashion reminiscent of the 
Cyclopean walls at the capital and decorated with frescoes in the traditional Mycenaean 
style. In his cellars he, or his successors, stored a vast quantity of pottery, perhaps for sale 


1 Early Helladic sites which were never again reoccupied in subsequent periods are not at all rare throughout the southern 
parts of Greece. As examples may be named Hagios Kosmas below Phaleron and the hill southeast of the modern village of 
Spata in Attica; Makrovouni just to the west of the Aspis at Argos; and Palaiopyrgos not far from Vaphio in Laconia. 


222 


tery aan account ie two or ee generations; sana no stants 2 ake decline 
and it was only as an insignificant hamlet again that Zygouries oe 
to the shadowy end of the Mycenaean Age. | } | 


s 


INDEX 


Acrocorinth, 2. 

Aegean, intercourse of, with Peloponnesus in E. H. 
Period, 194; connections with settlement at Zy- 
gouries, 210 ff, 

Aegina, in Cycladic ceramic sphere, 212; L. H. III 
cylix from, 147. 

Aegisthus, vessels from Tomb of, at Mycenae, 139. 

Alexopoulos, G., 68. 

Ambelakia, cemetery of Zygouries at, 42, $4n., 211; 
M. H. grave of adult and child at, 56f.; shaft- 
graves at, 178. 

Amorgos, bronze daggers from, 213, 218; impress of 
leaf on pottery from, 212; silver diadems from, 182, 
211. 

Amulet of stone in shape of foot, 47, 197, 212. 

Architecture, chapter Il) 4 ff.; of E. H. Period, 4 f.; 
of M. H. Period, 28; of L. H. Period, 28 ff. 

Early Helladic, House A, 8f.; House D, 6 f.; 
“House of the Dagger”’(= House U), 25 ff.; House 
i oa- Mouse’ L,21 ff.; “House of the Pithoi,” 
8, 9 ff.; House S, 1g f.; “House of the Snailshells,” 
iespeetiouse W, 16 f.; House Y, 24/f.; alcove, 
20; alleys, 5, 7; dothroi, 26, 28, 76, 77, 215; bricks, 
Pe courtyard, 16, 23;.26; doors, 6, 7, 8, 10 f.; 
floor, 8, 9, 12, 16, 25; gatepost, 10; general plan of 
settlement, 4, 6; hearth, 6, 13, 20, 26; houses, 
general plan of, 5, 6; orientation of, 6; lane, 16; 
pavement of stones, 10; pillars, 13; pivotstones, 
7, 9, 11; rectangular construction, 6; roof, 6, 13, 
EAwestrcets, 4 1,,°7,. 8) 9; 275 superstructure, .4; 
threshold, 8, 10; vestibule (?), 9, 14; walls, 4, 6, 
7, 8,9 i rg: 

Middle Helladic, walls, 28. 

Late Helladic (= Mycenaean), House B (= the Pot- 
ter’s Shop), jo #f., 135; brick (crude), 37; corri- 
dor (?), 32; drain, 35, 37; drain-trap, 38; floor, 33, 
34, 36; plaster, 32, 36, 37, 38; stairway, 37; thresh- 
Old: 192,94, 373 walls, 8, 11, 14, 30; 35. 

Byzantine, walls, 39, 40. 

Argive Heraeum, 209; bronze dagger from M. H. tomb 
at, 182; bronze tweezers from M. H. shaft-grave at, 
183; from L. H. chamber tomb at, 183; E. H. 
ossuary at, $4, 210; realistic octopus on L. H. jar 
from, 146. 

Argolis, 1; in sphere of neolithic occupation, 219. 

Argos, I, 209, 22In. 

Asine, E. H. seal impression on terracotta from, 107; 
E. ist seals and sealings from, 214, 218; Minyan 
ware made in moulds at, 126. 

Aspis at Argos, 209, 22In. 


229 


Athens, in National Museum at, bronze pins from 
Cycladic tombs, 183; Cycladic figurines from 
Sunium, 194; palettes of schist from Siphnos and 
Syra, 197; sickles from Mycenae, 203. 

Attica, M. H. invasion of, 221; steatopygous figurines 
from, 194. 

Azoria Hill (in Crete), 1n. 


Bakoulis, D., 75. 

Beads, Early Helladic, of carnelian, 47, 51, 53, 197; 
of green stone, 197; of steatite, 53, 197. 

Middle Helladic, of crystal, 40, 201; of paste, 40, 201. 
Late Helladic (= Mycenaean), of steatite, 61, 207. 
Boars’ tusks, Early Helladic, 27,194; Late Helladic, 207. 
Bone, Early Helladic objects of, buttons (or whorls), 

53, 191 f.; disk, 192; handle of knife or dagger, 191; 
implement, 27, 193; pins, 192f.; pommel from 
handle of dagger or sword, 191; spool, 27, 193. 
Middle Helladic, pin, 40, 201. 

Bones, of goats (?), 41; of goats, sheep, and swine, 194. 

Bossert, H., 215. 

Bothroi, 26, 28, 76, 77, 215; at Orchomenos, 215. 

Break between Early and Middle Helladic Periods at 
Zygouries, 216. 

British Museum, L. H. cylix from Kalymnos in, 147. 

Broneer; O.1.,.278. 

Bronze, objects of, Early Helladic, awl, 25, 183; 
chisel, 1845 dagger, 27, 182; came (ee 1845 
spatulae, acy Bie eo fs tweezers, 183; wire, 9, 184. 
Middle Helladic, coils of wire, 40, 201. 

Late Helladic (= Mycenaean), knife, 38, 202 f.; sickle, 
203; spearhead, 203. 

Geometric, ring, 69, 208. 

Roman, coin of Constantius Gallus, 71, 179. 

Bulle sHyGi are: 

Burial of adult and child in M. H. tomb, 56. 

Burial customs of Cyclades and Zygouries in E. H. 
Period compared, 211. 

Burials, see Tombs. 

Buttons, of steatite, 61, 65, 208. 

Byzantine remains, 39, 40. 


Candia, Museum at, 144. 

Carnelian, E. H. beads of, 47, 51, 53, 197; L. H. beads 
of, 65, 208. 

Cave-burials at Epano Zakro (in Crete), 214. 

Cave-ossuaries, see Ossuaries, Tombs. 

Celts, 21, 199. 

Cemetery of Zygouries at Ambelakia, 3, 42 ff., 211. 


224 


Chalandriane (in Syra), bronze awl from cemetery at, 
183; bronze pin found at, 184; bronze spatulae from, 
182; celt from acropolis of, 199; occurrence together 
of amorphous and anthropomorphic figurines at, 
189; silver diadem from, 181, 211; stone pestles or 
spools from, 198. 

Chalcis, early tombs near, 54; tweezers from tombs 
near, 183. 

Chamber tombs, 57 ff.; see Tombs, Late Helladic. 

Charadra, ravine of (at Argos), 209 f. 

Chert, see Flint. 

Childe, V. G., 94, 219n. 

Chiliomodi, 2. 

Chronology of settlement at Zygouries, 216 ff. 

Cist-graves, see Tombs. 

Cleonae, I, 210. 

Cleonaean basin, 219. 

Cnossus, Ephyraean ware of L. M. III from, 144. 

Cohen, H., 71n. 

Commercial activity in E. H. Period, 210. 

Comparison of discoveries at Zygouries with those at 
other sites in Aegean area, 209 ff. 

Comparison of E. H. pottery with contemporary ware 
in Crete; 217: 

Connections of Zygouries with Crete, 213 ff.; with 
Cyclades, 210 ff. 

Constantius Gallus, bronze coin of, 71, 179. 

Contracted position of skeleton in E. H. (?) grave, 
43 ff.;in M. H. tombs, 40, 41, 42, §5. 

Corinth, 1; E. H. burials at, 54; Geometric vases from, 
176; Roman lamps from, 178. 

Corinthia, abandonment of E. H. settlements in, 221; 
communications of, with Argolis, 209; E. H. settle- 
ments in (Gonia, Korakou, Yiriza), 198; in sphere 
of neolithic occupation, 219. 

Crete, button seals from tombs in Mesara plain in, 
189; early ossuaries in, 54, 214; foot-shaped amulets 
found in, 212. 

Crystal, beads of, 40, 201. 

Cyclades, amorphous figurines from, 188; bronze 
daggers from early Cycladic tombs in, 182; bronze 
spatulae from, 182, 211; bronze tweezers from, 183, 
211; cist-graves in, 54; connections of, with Zy- 
gouries, 210 ff.; early pottery from, 78; kernoi from, 
81; link between Zygouries and, 182; marble pots 
from, 195; stone pestles or spools from, 198. 

Cycladic pottery withimpressionof leaf, 107; of mat, 117. 


Dawkins, R. M., 155, 212. 

De Jong, P., 103, 129. 

Dervenaki Pass, 2. 

Diadems, of silver, 47, 51, 53, 181 f.; found in Amorgos 
and Syra, 211; of gold, from Mochlos, 211. 

Dromos of chamber tombs, 57, 61, 65. 

Droop; js 2 2s. 


Early Helladic, architecture, 4 ff.; miscellaneous ob- 
jects, 180 ff.; pottery, 76 ff.; tombs, 43 ff. 

Early Helladic people, invaders from southwest Asia 
Minor, 219. 


INDEX 


Early Helladic Period, absolute chronology of, 218; 
destruction of settlement at end of, 217; triple 
division of, 217. 

Earrings (?) of gold, 47, 51, 53, 180. 

Pdpar iC abr 

Epano Zakro, cave burials at, 214. 

Euboea, early tombs near Chalcis in, 183. 

Evans, Sir Arthur, 183, 219. 


Figurine of marble, 194; probably imported from 
Cyclades, 213. 

Figurines, see Terracottas. 

Flint, E. H. celt of, 21; E. H. saw of, 26, 199. 

Forsdyke, E. J., 219. 

Furtwiangler, A., 127, 133, 147. 


Gems of steatite, 38, 61, 207. 

German Archaeological Institute, 1. 

Gilliéron, E., 191. 

Glaze on E. H. pottery, 78. 

Gold, E. H. earrings or pendants of, 47, 51, 53, 180; 
wire links of, 181. 

Gonia (in Corinthia), E. H. dothroi at, 215; E. H. 
glazed ware at, 83; E. H. stone pestles or spools 
from, 198; M. H. grave of two adults at, 56; 
Minyan Ware at, 126. 

Gournia (in Crete), 6; ossuaries at, 214. 

Graves, see Tombs. 

Gurob, stirrup vases from, 174. 


Hadzidakis, J., In. 

Hagia Marina (Phocis), E. H. patterned ware at, 215. 

Hagia Photia (Crete), ossuaries at, 214. 

Hagia Triada (Crete), foot-shaped amulet from, 218. 

Hagios Kosmas (Attica), E. H. settlement at, 221n. 

Hagios Nikolaos (Crete), rock-shelter graves at, 214. 

Hagios Onouphrios (Crete), terracotta seal from, 189, 
218. 

Hagios Sostis, 1. 

Hagios Vasilios, 1, 2, 42, 200. 

Hair-fasteners (?) of bronze wire, 40, 201. 

Haley, J. B.73r%0. 

Hawes, Harriet Boyd, In. 

Heermance, T. W., 54. 

Helos Plain, reached by M. H. invasion, 221. 

Horn of red deer, 193 f. 


Ialysus, cylix from, 147. 

Imports at settlement of Zygouries, 220. 

Impression of seal on E. H. pottery, 107. 

Infant burial, M. H. Period, 26, 42. 

Incised patterns on E. H. pottery, 78, 124. 

Isthmus, 2. 

Ivory, handle of a knife of, 38; knob of, on handle of 
bronze knife, 203, 207. 


Kakovatos, design on jar from, 147; jars of Palace 
style from, 136. 
Kalymnos, cylix from, 147. 


Karo, G., 6. 


INDEX 


Kontogeorgis, G., 75. 

Korakou, chronology of settlement at, supported by 
evidence from Zygouries, 216; classification of E. H. 
pottery at, 76; classification of M. H. pottery at, 
125; destruction of settlement at, 221; early E. H. 
pottery from, 77; Early Helladic, bothroi at, 215; 
cylinders of unbaked clay from, I91; patterned 
ware at, 103; paved circle at, 20; glazed ware at, 83, 
100; stone pestles or spools from, 198; unpainted 
ware at, 106; water jars at, 96; Middle Helladic, 
apsidal house at, 28; cups with high handles from, 
128; sherds with shiny glaze from, 135; Late Helladic, 
Ephyraean ware at, 139; late L. H. III ware at, 
140; L. H. III jug from, 169; L. H. III houses at, 
166. 

Koumasa, foot-shaped amulet from, 218. 


Laconia, M. H. invasion of, 221. 

Late Helladic, architecture, 30 ff.; miscellaneous ob- 
jects, 202 ff.; pottery, 135 ff.; tombs, 57 ff. 

Leaf, impression of, on base of E. H. pot, 107. 

Levkas, E. H. pottery at, 215. 

Léschcke, G., 127, 133, 147. 

Longopotamos, 1, 2. 

Lord, G. D., 54. 


Louvre, gold sauceboat in, 94. 


Makrovouni, E. H. settlement of Argos, 209, 221n. 

Malian Gulf, 215. 

Marathokephalon, foot-shaped amulet from, 218. 

Marble, vessels of, imported from Cyclades, 213. 

Mat impressions on E. H. pottery, 78, 106 f., 116 f. 

Megaron type of house, 6. 

Melos, Minyan ware found in, 221; obsidian at 
Zygouries imported from, 198; settlement at Phy- 
Jakopi in, 210. 

Mesara, tholoi in plain of (in Crete), amulets from, 
218; button seals from, 189; daggers from, 182; 
tweezers from, 183. 

Metal, influence on pottery of vessels in, 94. 


Metal, objects of, Early Helladic, bronze awl, 25, 183; | 


chisel, 184; dagger, 27, 182; fragment, 53, 184; 

nail, 184; pins, 47, 48, 53, 183, 184; ring, 44, 184; 

spatulae, 51, 53, 182 f.; tweezers, 183; wire, 9, 184; 

gold earrings or pendants, 47, 51, 53, 180; wire 

links, 181; /ead, clamps of, for mending pottery, 

184 f.; lump of, 184; stopper of, 118, 184; si/ver, disk 

of, 47, 181; fragments of diadems, 47, 51, 53, 181 f.; 

pin, $1, 53, 181; wire loop, 47, 180. 

Middle Helladic, coils of wire of bronze, 40, 201. 

Late Helladic (= Mycenaean), bronze knife, 38, 202 f.; 
sickle, 203; spearhead, 203. 

Geometric, bronze ring, 69, 208. 

Roman, bronze coin of Constantius Gallius, 71, 179. 

Mica, particles of, in clay, 94, 104, 122, 212. 

Middle Helladic, architecture, 28; miscellaneous ob- 
qects, 201 f.; pottery, 125 ff.; tombs, 39ff., 99 f.; 
remains at Zygouries scanty for comparison, 216. 

Millstones, 13, 21, 27, 200. 


225 


Miscellaneous objects, Chapter V, 180 ff.: Early Hel- 
ladic, 180 ff.; Middle Helladic, 201 f.; Late Helladic, 
202 ff. (see Bone, Metal, Stone, Terracotta). 

Mochlos, city-plan of, 214; gold diadems from, 211; 

ossuaries at, 214; tweezers from E. M. tombs at, 183. 

Mottling, on E. H. pottery, 79; arranged to form a 

pattern, 93. 

Moulds, Minyan ware at Asine made in, 126. 

Miiller, K., 185, 210. 

Murex pattern on L. H. III pottery, 144 fF. 

Mussel shells, 38. 

Mycenae, 1, 209; bronze sickles from, 203; chamber 
tombs at, 65; coarse Yellow Minyan goblets from, 
128; cup of Yellow Minyan from Sixth Shaft Grave 
at, 127; early E. H. pottery at, 77; jars of Palace 
style from, 136; L. H. III cylixes from, 147; L. H. 
III ware at, 139; obsidian arrowheads from, 208; 
Palace at, 37, 38; polychrome Matt painted jugs 
from Sixth Shaft Grave at, 135; pottery from 
dromos of Tomb 505 at, 139, 166; stratification of 
L. H. III pottery at, 165 f.; tweezers from First 
Shaft Grave at, 183; vessels from Tomb of Aegisthus 
at, 139; Zygouries dependent upon, in L. H. III, 
216, 221. 

Mycenaean, see Late Helladic. 


Naxian marble, fragment of vessel probably of, 195. 

Naxos, mainland pottery imported to, 212. 

Nemea, 1; in sphere of neolithic occupation, 219. 

Neolithic remains, in Eastern Peloponnesus, 219; not 
found at Zygouries, 219. 

Nichols, Miss M. L., 176. 


Obsidian, arrowhead, E. H., 199, L. H., 208; blades 
and flakes, 21 ff., 26, 47, 198; imported from Melos, 
2 

Octopus design on L. H. III pottery, 146 f. 

Old Corinth, pottery from Zygouries in museum at, 75. 

Oneion, Mt., 2. 

Orchomenos, apsidal houses at, 6; architectural re- 
mains scanty for comparison, 215; dothroi at, 215; 
E. H. patterned ware at, 215. 

Ossuaries, at Ambelakia, 54; compared with ossuaries 
in Crete, 214. 


Palaikastro, bone enclosures at, 214. 

Palaiokastro, above Hagios Vasilios, 42. 

Palaiopyrgos, E. H. settlement at, 221n. 

Palettes of stone, 195; probably imported from 
Cyclades, 213. 

Papabasileiou, G., 54, 183. 

Paros, incised patterns on pottery from, 212. 

Paste, beads of, M. H. Period, 40, 201. 

Peloponnesian Railway, grave in cutting of, 68, 174. 

Peloponnesus, E. H. “stoppers” from, 188; identity 
of contemporary culture of, with that of Zygouries, 
209 f.; inhabited in the Neolithic Period, 18g; inter- 
course with Aegean in E. H. Period, 194; scanty 
evidence for writing in E. H. Period, 190; steatopy- 
gous figurines from, 194. 


226 


Pendants of gold, 47, 51, 53, 180; analogies in Crete, 212. 

Persson, A., 107, 126, 208, 214, 218. 

Pestles of stone, use of, in E. H. Period, 198. 

Phaleron, 221n. 

Phlius, in sphere of Neolithic occupation, 219. 

Phoukas, Mt., 2. 

Phylakopi, architectural remains of early settlement 
at, 210 f.; dotted decoration on early pottery from, 
104; mainland pottery imported to, 212; mat im- 
pressions on early pottery from, 212. 

Platanos, bronze dagger from, 213, 214, 218; foot- 
shaped amulet from, 218; pendant from Tholos A 
at; 212. 

Poros, well-cut slabs of, covering cist-graves, 67. 

Potter’s marks on E. H. pottery, 107. 

Potter’s shop at Zygouries, 30 ff. 

Pottery of Zygouries, Chapter IV, 75 ff. 

Pottery, Early Helladic, 76 ff.; compared with that 
from Cyclades and Crete, 212 f.; found in dothroi, 
28, 77, 96, 97, 100, 108; found in House A, 9; 
House D, 8, 118; House L, 21 ff., 90, 94, 114, 118; 
House of the Pithoi, 12, 93, 99, 100, 112, 116, 118, 
119, 123; House S, 20; House of the Snailshells, 16, 
94, 96, 110; House U, 26 f.; House W, 18; House Y, 
25, 90, 94; from Tomb VII, 47, 108; Tomb XX, 53, 
108. 

Classification of 
A Polished Ware: I Without slip, 76 f.; II 

Slipped, 77 ff.; Yellow mottled ware, 78 ff. 

B Glazed Ware: I Partially coated, 83 ff.; II 
completely coated, 87 ff. 

C Patterned Ware, ror ff.; I] Dark-on-Light, 
103 ff.; (a) Decoration in reserved zones, 103; 
(b) Open or Free style, 103 ff.; I] Light-on- 
Dark, 103. 

D Unpainted Ware, 106 ff. 

E Coarse Ware, Domestic Pots and Pithoi, 
$13 i. 

F Miscellaneous other wares, 123 ff. 

Impressed decoration on, g2; incised decoration, 
78, 124; leaf impression, 107; mat impression, 
78, 106 f., 116; Potter’s marks, 107; seal im- 
pression on, 107. 

Shapes: askoid cup, 112, 114; askoid vessel, 105; 
askos, 21, 23, 27, 79, 80, 81, 86, 94f.; askos, 
use of, 95 f.; baking pans, 117; basins, 78, 86, 
97 f., 110; bowls, deep, 79, 99; bowls, shallow, 
12, 21, 25, 26, 27, 47, 53, 78, 79, 80, 83, 87, 106, 
112; chalice, 124 f.; cooking pots, 12, 22, 112 ff.; 
cups, 79, 80, 83, 112, 114, 123; dippers, 96 f.; 
goblets (?), 78; jars, 47, 53, 80, 85, 108, 116; 
jugs, 27, 78, 79, 80, 84f., 96, 98 f., 103; jug 
with tall neck, 93; ladle, 26, 27, 107 f.; lids, 
87 f.; pans, 121 f.; patera, 51, $3, 107; pithoi, 8, 
11 f., 14, 16, 18, 21, 78, 86, 117 &, 123; plates, 
78, 124; pot with side spout and basket handle, 
104, 123; pyxis, 47, 78, 79,-80, 87f., 105; 
sauceboats, 8, 12, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 47, 78; 
79, 80, 86, 88 ff.; sauceboats, use of, 89; sauce- 


INDEX 


boats with spout in shape of ram’s head, 92 f.; 
tankard, 103, 104; “thimble,” 104 f.; vase in 
form of a bird, 9, 79, 81; water jars, 86, 96. 

Middle Helladic, 125 ff.; from Tomb I, 40, 131; 
from Tomb XXII, 55, 133. 

Classification of 
A Minyan Ware, 125 ff.: 1 Gray Minyan, 126 f.; 

II Argive Minyan, 126; III Yellow Minyan, 
127. 

B Mattpainted Ware, 128 ff.: I Coarse style, 
128 ff.; II Fine style, 131 ff.; III Polychrome 
style, 134 f. 

C Coarse Ware, 135. 

D Mainland Ware Corresponding to Fabrics of 
Middle Minoan III, 135. 

Shapes: basin, 135; bowls, 126, 127; cups, 40, 
56, 126, 127, 128, 131, 132 f.; goblets, 126, 127, 
128, 1335 Jugs, 40, $5, 129, 131, 133, 134. 

Late Helladic (= Mycenaean), 135 ff.: Late Helladic 
I, 135 f.; Late Helladic II, 136 ff.; Late Helladic 
III, 139 ff.; found in filling of dothros, 28; from the 
Potter’s Shop, 33, 34, 36, 143 ff., date of, 165 fF.; 
from Tomb XXV, 65; from Tomb XXXIII, 61, 
167 ff., date of, 174; from Tomb XXXV, 64 f., 
171 ff., date of, 174. 

Ephyraean ware, 139, 144; “granary class,” 139, 
166, 174; “Keftiu shape,” 136, 139; murex 
pattern on, 144 ff.; octopus design on, 146 f.; 
Palace style, 136, 139, 147, 166; palm design on, 
147. 

Shapes: amphora, 148, 171; askos, 64, 172; basins, 
33, 36, 155 fF.; bath, 30, 142; bowls, deep, 33, 
36, 139, 157; braziers, 161; cooking pots, see 
bowls, deep; craters, 34, 36, 161 f.; cups, 33, 
136, 142, 153; cup with basket handle, 64; 
cylixes, 34, 62, 65, 143 ff., 151 ff., 173; goblet on 
a stem, 136; jars, 33, 36, 64 f., 136, 155, 1593 
jar, cylindrical, 163 f.; jugs, 36, 61, 64, 141, 155, 
167 ff., 173; jug with side spout, 64, 173; ladles, 
33, see scoops; lids, 159; pan, circular, 164 f.; 
saucers, 33, 153 ff.; scoops, 1$g9 ff.; stand for a 
pot, 149; stirrup vases, 33, 61, 64 f., 141, 149 fF., 
167, 171; water jars, 33, 163. 

Geometric, from Tomb XVIII, 69, 174 ff. 

Shapes: crater, 69, 176; oinochoé, 69, 174 ff. 

Roman, 176 ff.; from Tomb VIII, 70, 178; Tomb XI, 
178 f.; Tomb XIII, 71, 178; Tomb XIV, 72, 178; 
Tomb XVa, 73, 179; Tomb XVII, 73, 178; Tomb 
XXXV, 63, 176 ff. 

Byzantine, 3, 24, 26, 28, 39. 

Prindle, L. M., 194. 

Pseira, 6; city plan of, 214. 
Pylos, jars of Palace style from, 136. 
Pyrgos, cave ossuary at, 214. 


Recess in side of dromos of chamber tomb, 61. 
Sacrifice of goats in connection with M. H. burial (?), 41. 


Saddle-querns, see Mill stones. 
Schliemann, H., 127, 135. 


INDEX 


Sea shell, from Tomb VII, 47. 

peager,, K., 79, 183, 211, 213, 214. 

Seal, impression of, on E. H. pot, 107. 

Seals, of steatite, L. H., 38, 61, 207. 

Silver, E. H. objects of, 47, 51, 53, 181 f. 

Siphnos, palettes of schist from, 197. 

Snailshells, 16. 

Spata, E. H. settlement at, 221. 

Spatula of bronze, E. H. Period, 51, 53, 182 f. 

Spirals, pattern of on L. H. plaster, 37. 

Stais, V., 206. 

Steatite, objects of, 38, 61, 65, 207f.; see Stone, 
objects of. 

Stone, objects of, Early Helladic, from House L, 21 f.; 
from House U, 26f.; from Tomb VII, 47; from 
Tomb XX, 53; arrowhead of obsidian, 199; beads of 
chalcedony or carnelian, 47, 51, 53; 197; bead of 
green stone, 197; bead of steatite (?), $3, 197; bead 
of limestone in shape of foot, 47, 197; blades and 
flakes of obsidian, 21 ff., 26, 47, 198; blades and 
chips of flint or chert, 26, 199; celts, 199; dish of 
marble, fragment of, 195; figurine of marble, frag- 
ment of, 194; millstones, 13, 21, 27, 200; palette of 
limestone, fragment of, 195; palette of schist, frag- 
ment of, 195; pestles or spools, 197 f.; pounders or 
grinders, 200; pyxis of greenish gray marble, frag- 
ment of, 195; vessel of marble, fragment of, 195; 
whetstones, Igg. 

Middle Helladic, beads of crystal, 40, 201. 

Late Helladic, arrowhead of obsidian, 208; beads of 
carnelian, 65, 208; bead of steatite, 61, 207; 
buttons of steatite, 61, 65, 207, 208; lentoid seals 
of steatite, 38, 61, 207. 

Sunium, marble figurines of Cycladic type from, 194. 

Syra, 189; imported mainland pottery at, 212; 1m- 
pression of leaf on pottery from, 212; palettes of 
schist from, 197; silver diadem from Chalandriane 
in, 181 f., 211; silver pins from, 181; stone spools or 
pestles from Chalandriane in, 198. 


Tattooing, in Cyclades, custom of, 198. 

Tell el Amarna, decoration on stirrup vases from, 171; 
L. H. III pottery at, 148, 167. 

Tenea, 2. 

Terracotta, Early Helladic, bird, forepart of, 186; 
body of small animal of, 186; button seal of, 25, 
18g f.; cylinder of unbaked clay, 191; disks of, 190; 
female figurine of, 185; head of animal of, 27, 186; 
spools of, 190 f.; ““stoppers”’ (or figurines?) of, 9, 
25, 27, 186 ff.; weight of, 191; whorls of, 9, 27, 190. 
Middle Helladic, whorl of, 40, 201. 

Late Helladic (= Mycenaean), animals of, 206; bull’s 
head (?) of, 64, 206; drain pipes of, 35, 37; figure 
of mother with infant child, 206; figurines from 
drain-trap, 38, 206; figurines from early L. H. 
III deposit, 205; from Tomb XXXIII, 61, 203 f.; 
from Tomb XXXV, 64, 204 f.; figurines, an- 
cestry of (?), 185; relative chronology of different 
types of, 205; table from Tomb XXXYV, 64, 206. 


229 


Thessaly, celts held in socket of deerhorn in, 199; 
figurines with body of terracotta and head of stone 
from, 188; relation of to E. H. cultural area, 21¢. 

Tile-graves, see Tombs, Roman. : 

Tiryns, 209; E. H. circular building at, 6; E. H. fig- 
urines from, 185, 210; M. H. apsidal house at, 28. 

Tombs, Chapter III, 39 ff.; in the settlement at 
Zygouries, 39 ff.;in the cemetery at Ambelakia, 42 ff. 
Early Helladic: how made, 45, 47, 48f., 53 f.; 

really ossuaries, 54; Tomb VII, 43 ff.; objects in, 
47; twelve skulls in, 46; Tomb XVI, 47 f.; ob- 
jects in, 48; three skulls in, 48; Tomb XX, 48 ff.; 
bones in, 49; objects in, 51, 53; fifteen skulls in, 
SiG LOmpoO ALIS 69 fF, 

Middle Helladic: Tomb I, 39 f.; Tomb IV, 40 f.; 
Tomb V, 41 f.; Tomb VI, 26, 42; Tomb XXII, 
55 fF. 

Late Helladic (= Mycenaean): Chamber tombs, 57 ff.; 
at Ambelakia, date of, 65, 174; chamber, 59, 63 f.; 
door, 57, 62f.; dromos, 57, 61 f.; Tomb XXV 
(unfinished dromos), 65; Tomb XXXIII, 57 f.; 
cist in floor of, 61; objects found in, 61; Tomb 
XXXV, 61 ff.; objects found in, 64 f. 

Geometric: Tomb XVIII, 67 f. 

Roman: 69 ff.; shaft-graves, 70, 72, 73, 74, 179; 
tile-graves, 53 f., 63, 67, 70, 72, 74; at Ambelakia, 
date of, 74, 179; Tomb VIII, 70; Tomb XII, 70; 
Tomb XIII, 70 f.; Tomb XIV, 72; Tomb XVa, 
72 f.; Tomb XVII, 73; Tomb XXIII, 73; Tomb 
XXXII, 73; Tomb XXXV, 74. 

Of Indeterminate date: cist-graves covered by slab of 
poros, 66 f.; Tomb IX, 66; Tomb X, 66; Tomb XV 
66 f. 

Tretus, (Mt, 25/42. 

Tsani (in Thessaly), rugose ware at, 117. 

Tsountas, Ch., 51, 181, 182, 183, 184, 194n., 197, 198, 
21.1572; 


Vaphio, 221n. 
Vasiliki (in Crete), mottled ware at, 79, 213. 


Wace, A. J. B., 139, 165, 166. 
Winter, F., 206. 


Xanthoudides, St., 182, 183, 212, 214, 218. 


Yiriza (in Corinthia), E. H. stone pestles or spools 
from, 198. 


Zafer Papoura, tweezers from cemetery at, 183. 

Zygouria, In. 

Zygouries, situation of, 2, 209; stratification of deposit 
at, 3; identity of culture with that of contemporary 
settlements in Northeastern Peloponnesus, 209 f.; 
summary of external relations of, 215 f.; destruction 
of E. H. settlement at, 221; reconstructed history of 
settlement at, 219 ff. 


PLATE I 


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PIN 


SCALR 


ZYQOURIES 
GENERAL PLAN 


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GENERAL PLAN OF THE EXCAVATIONS 


PLATE II 


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Rs Mi 


1omM. 
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? PALE ARE HEN HY Capp, 
“eg "ty 


H OW a Wages 
Uv ee ay See 
aneee ‘ AY 
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OD PK SAI? : 
SLOSS 
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7 
9 
5) 0 
aoe fs 
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: Ze OVE, LL ete 
tives) es @ Some 
b vy S OneAe 
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[2.8 0s io 0 yas FP 
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GO m BY 
Ci DS 
5 e “ = "6, 
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S S GO é i 
= aXy ee BE s ; 
F LIK § : 
5 , WOPESE doy hog, f : 
3 é sad . Ve * 
2 5 "Oy, tm, n Q = 3 
$ 3 “Min, Dos YZ; .@) = 
é 3 My, “ny, , QR ag Banos 
$ = “inp My = 
3 "Wherry, 3 
= = "aM, 7 a 
: “un, z é 
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$ 2 
Br, Z 
et "ty = 
‘ TU he 


DETAILED Pian oF WALLS, Centray AREA OF THE SITE 


PLATE III 


FRAGMENTS OF PAINTED PLASTER FROM THE PoTTER’s SHOP 


PLATE IV 


Tm 
i) 


4 
; 
y 
i 
t 
/ 


a 


Earty Hexiapic Ware, Crass AJ, witnour Sip, DecoraTED wiTH IncIsED PaTTERNS 


PLATE. V¥ 


CGaHSITOg ANV GaddITS “J] VY SSV1D SAUVAA OIGVTTAP ATUVY 


PLATE VI 


11 


Earry Hextiapic Ware, Crass AII, Stippep AND PoLIsHED, wiTtH IncIsED DECORATION 


‘ PLATE VII 


Earty Hetrapie Ware, Crass A II, No. 564 (above); Crass B II, No. 577 (below) 


PLATE VIII 


Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass BII, Earuiest Type or Giaze TECHNIQUE 


PLATE IX 


PLATE, & 


2, No. 260; 3, No. 238 


. 
bd 


251 


1, No. 


Earty Hetiapic Ware, Crass B II 


PLATE XI 


Earty Hexrapic PatrernepD Ware, Ciasses CI anv CII 


PLATE XII 


Earty Heviapic Patrernep Ware, No. 114, Crass CI (a); No. 205, Crass CI (4) 


PLATE XIII 


Lh Ronee TORE 


(V) TD ssv19 &@ S(@) TD ssvIg S(€11 ‘ON) I tsauvANvy, OMT TV AA GANUILLVG OIGVITAP] ATAV| 


_ SS Be 


ee 


crs 


PLATE XIV 


weeny 


Turee Pots rrom Toms XXII, Mippie Hewiapic Periop: 1, No. 305; 2, No. 306; 3, No. 304 


PLATE XV 


ba 


eo 


Gos.et, No. 276, AnD FracMents, EpHyrazEAN WARE 


SP ‘oN ‘% ‘ol ‘oN ‘I :aOHG s WILLOg AHL WOUd SAXITAD OMT, 


‘ 


= 
a 
fx) 
5 
a 


PLATE XVII 


Crux, No. 48, FRoM THE PoTTer’s SHOP 


XVITI 


PLATE 


Cyiix, No. 63, From THE Potrer’s SHop 


FI 


PLATE XIX 


IIIXXX Woy woud oSf ‘on ‘ont 
dOHS SUILLOG AHL Wows ‘O§ ‘on ‘saTGNVE] ATUH], HLIM Av * 


a 


PLATE XX 


MiscELLANeous OBjEcTS, CHIEFLY FROM Tomps, Earty Hetrapic PEeriop 


PLATE XXI 


MisceLLaneous Opsyjects, Earty Hetiapic Perrop 


PLATE XXII 


OMI OlaVITaP] ATYVY ‘SLNANAITAW] INOLS 


Lt 
9T 


a 


+ 


3 3125 0 


Cn 


WNT 


“ae 


fr 
et 
gies ihe: 
+ jake! 32555 


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